You have my soul
by Cammie Fujisaki
Summary: The body count rises every day, more people being taken from their grasps, the random violence directed towards the guardians making absolutely no sense to anyone. Will anyone be saved from monster tearing their lives apart? Rimahiko.
1. Chapter 1

1~You have my soul

Note: the guardians are now high school guardians. It's the original gang with Nagi instead of Nade, and Rima and Kairi. Also, single quotations ( ' ) are used to convey thoughts. And the side couples are amuto, kutau, kaiya. But their relationships won't have a huge role in the story.

Rated: T, but it may eventually change to M because of violence and gore.

A/N: My first published fanfic... I feel so proud of myself! But I _am _aware that the beginning is kind of poorly written, because I wrote it like a year ago, but I'm pretty sure it gets better by the end. So please hold out until then. Thanks! :)

_It is such a shame... you had so much life ahead of you. It is simply horrible that you were murdered so brutally by the one you loved the most._

Rima was home alone for one of the first times in her life, and she was not doing too well. Because of her parent's over-protectiveness, the fifteen year old had never been permitted to stay at home by herself. Since her dad had moved to England and gotten remarried, though, her mother had been more accepting. And because of this, Rima was sitting on the couch of her living room all alone, save for Kusukusu, waiting for the rest of the guardians to come over for their meeting.

Rima was very paranoid at the moment. Every creak or groan the house emitted caused her heart to beat just a little bit faster and her head to snap back and forth, which amused Kusukusu to no end. She had known that Amu was a scaredy-cat, but she had never before known her bearer to be one.

"Why are you scared, Rima?" Kusukusu asked, after Rima jerked her head to the right as a tree's branches tapped on the glass of the window.

"I read in the newspaper that a teenage girl staying home alone was kidnapped last week…" Rima muttered, while glancing over at the front door for the fifth time that hour to make sure it was locked, "So I'm kind of on edge."

"You'll be fine, Rima!" Kusukusu insisted, but Rima didn't look convinced, "If you need to, we can just character transform and use Juggling Party!"

"I guess…" Rima muttered. She looked at her orange cell-phone laying in the coffee table longingly; she really wanted to call Amu and have her come over early right now, but she also wanted to prove to her mother that she was old enough to stay home by herself. She inched her fingers towards it, before shaking her head in annoyance and pulling back. "No, I can do this." Rima told herself, as Kusukusu imitated Ran in an optimistic cheer. But Rima still couldn't convince herself that she was able to do this; images of her attempted kidnapping from years ago flashed across her mind, as she struggled to keep them down.

Rima held back a shudder, as she heard something scrape the window from outside. She knew that it was windy outside, and probably just a tree, but she turned around to see what it was anyway. Surprisingly, nothing was there.

"That's odd…" Rima muttered, as she stood up and slowly crossed the room towards the window, with Kusukusu following behind her, "I could have sworn I heard something."

She walked up to the closed window and unlatched it while Kusukusu told her, "It was probably nothing!"

She cautiously unlatched the lock, and pushed on the cool glass. 'Just the wind. Just the wind.' Rima told herself, as the window smoothly opened. She stuck her head through the parted glass, and was met with a face full of icy wind. 'See? nothing.' All that was out there were trees swaying back and forth in time to the breeze and dead leaves that the wind had picked up somewhere.

Rima slowly lowered her gaze, and stopped with a start. Right below her eyes was a human face, pure white, with blood pouring down it, and hollow pure-black eyes. There was a wicked smirk on its face, and Rima simply stared at it for a moment before the pure terror she had been feeling took over. She screamed a loud scream as she jerked back and slammed the window shut quickly. Struggling to lock it with her fumbling fingers, Rima quickly stumbled back away from the window.

"Did you see that?" she whispered in croaky voice to her guardian character, who nodded fiercely. Her heart thundered in her chest, as she struggled over to the coffee table and her cell-phone. As she stumbled across the room she heard a thumping sound from above her head, and she slowly moved her head to stare at the ceiling. The noise seemed to be making its way across one of the rooms, causing Rima's heart to stop. She quickly snatched up her phone and pushed her speed dial.

"Hello?" she heard a calm voice echo after the phone rang for several agonizing seconds.

"Nagihiko," Rima croaked, as she strained her ears to hear a door upstairs slowly creak open, "I need you."

Thinking back on it, Rima didn't really know why she called Nagihiko of all people. She was much closer to Amu, or so she said, and Kukai seemed more like the fearless type. But somehow her hand had guided itself over the three on her phone that was reserved solely for Nagihiko. And when he showed up at her front-door five minutes later, she was glad she had asked him of all people to come.

When she quickly flung the door open, she saw Nagihiko doubled over, his hands on his knees, panting deeply. It's was obvious that he had run all the way there from his own house upon hearing that she was in trouble and needed his help. After a brief moment of silence in which Rima felt as though she fell madly in love with him, he asked between deep pants, "What's wrong?"

"I saw a bloody face below that window-" Rima pointed to the window across the room, "and then heard something move around upstairs!"

Nagihiko thought about how preposterous this whole situation was for a moment; Rima, the strong-silent type had run into something so horrible that she was freaking out like Yaya would (her fidgeting, eyes darting back and forth nervously, and the way she chewed on her thumbnail made this clear) and she had asked him of all people to help her?

"Are you sure you saw a bloody face?" Nagihiko asked skeptically, obviously finding that too weird to be true. Rima glared at him harshly.

"No, I made it up. What do you think?"

"Besides, I saw it too!" Kusukusu suddenly burst in with a fearful expression on her face from where she floated besides Nagihiko's own guardian characters. "It was really scary!"

As Rhythm patted Kusukusu's back comfortingly, Nagihiko asked Rima, "And are you sure you heard something upstairs too?"

"Yes! I heard something moving around, and I think I heard a door open, and nobody's here right now except for me!" Rima exclaimed before biting her lip. Nagihiko sighed.

"I think your nerves just got the better of-" He cut himself off as he heard a creaking sound from above his head. Nagihiko and Rima's eyes widened as they bore into the ceiling, following the sound as it moved overhead.

"Nagihiko," Rima whimered, terrified beyond all belief. She grasped the boy's arm to her, trying to take comfort in it. Nagihiko gulped, torn between playing the hero or throwing Rima over his shoulder and running home as quickly as possible.

"Maybe it's just the wind or a mouse or something," Nagihiko speculated, although he didn't even sound like he believed himself at all.

"I don't think so, Nagihiko. I sense a weird presence in the house," Temari said in a low voice that was unlike her. The other guardian characters nodded their heads in unison, all three of them wearing the same grave expression. They could feel something somewhat like an x-character but much different than the awkward eggs. It felt, how could they put it… sinister.

"I think we should get out of here ASAP, Nagi," Rhythm said, his playful tone lost in his throat.

Nagihiko opened his mouth but stopped as the creaking intensified, almost as if it were calling out to the two young teenagers. For some reason, Nagihiko almost felt drawn to it. "I don't know… I feel like we should go look for it. Maybe it's nothing bad after all."

Nagihiko moved his arm and took Rima's hand in his. Under normal conditions she would protest this, but all she could do was squeak with the fear consuming her body. Nagihiko slowly walked towards the stairs, pulling a hesitant Rima after him. She lagged behind a little bit, reluctant to go near what was surely the bloody face wandering her upstairs.

"Are you crazy?" Rima managed to choke out as Nagihiko dragged her to what she knew would surely be her death. Nagihiko shrugged but kept walking, albeit at a slightly slower pace. As their feet stepped on the stairs leading to the upstairs, an ominous creaking echoed beneath them. Rima shuddered, trying to block out the sound and focus on something else. Kusukusu chuckled nervously by her shoulder, as if weakly trying to comfort her bearer. Rima could feel the sweat passing from her hand to Nagihiko's, and she desperately wanted to wipe it off but couldn't bring herself to let go. For some reason, she felt safer holding onto him, even though it would probably do no good whatsoever.

Upon reaching the upper floor, a loud groan emitted itself from the bathroom, causing Rima to jump into Nagihiko. He tightened his grip on her hand, and slowly pulled her towards the noise. For some reason he could not explain, he felt as though the presence there was calling out for him, almost as if they were connected.

"Na-Nagihiko," Rima whispered, intending to beg him to take her back downstairs, but she found that the words would not form in her throat. Nagihiko didn't respond but instead just walked up to the bathroom door. He gulped while staring at it, summoning up his courage. He slowly reached out with trembling fingers which in turn wrapped around the cool metal of the knob. After stepping to his right so that he was in front of Rima, he quickly opened the door, taking in a sharp breath.

Inside was... absolutely nothing.

The shower curtain fluttered with the sudden burst of wind from the open door, but other than that the room was still. The two teenagers' looks immediately changed from scared to confused. There was nothing inside that would cause such a noise… Nagihiko flicked on the light switch and the two hurried inside."There's nothing here! What the hell _was_ that?"

"I have no idea," Rima answered in an equally surprised voice. She glanced at the mirror and saw her own face reflected in it, with unusually pale skin and a nervous frown.

"Maybe it was in the other room th-" Nagihiko started to turn around, but stopped at the sight he saw. In the doorway was a tall figure with white skin, hollow black eyes, and a cruel smirk.

Nagihiko couldn't find the words to say what was on his mind. His eyes bore into the dark hollow holes on the face of the other figure, trying to figure out what the hell he was looking at. A croaking sound exited his throat, as his mind spun at the horrifying revelation that something was indeed in Rima's house and that that something probably did want to kill her and probably even him now.

"What is it?" Rima asked, confusion evident in her voice as she turned away from the mirror to look at him. Her eyes widened at the horrified and vacant look on her friend's face. His pupils had shrunk considerably, his mouth was agape in a small "o" and lines are fear were etched onto his face. Nagihiko's eyes finally pulled themselves away from the living horror in the doorway, and met Rima's own fearful ones for just a moment. At once he knew he had to protect her, and for that reason alone he was able to snap out of his horror-filled trance.

He ran at the door, with no regard for what may happen if the figure had a concealed weapon on him. Rima snapped her head towards the door as he rushed forward, and her eyes widened as well as they met the figure once more. She let out a blood-curdling scream, one that caused the hairs on Nagihiko's neck to stand on end. Finally reaching the door he slammed it shut quickly, thankful the door opened inside, and clicked the look shut. Nagihiko leaned up against it, pushing up against the wood as though doing so would reinforce the lock holding it in place. Letting out a short sigh of relief, he tried to block out the sound of fingernails scrapping against the wood from the other side.

"Are you okay?" Rima managed to whisper, as her head spun with the shock of it all. Nagihiko panted against the door, his long, spindly fingers desperately pressing against the wood, and nodded breathlessly.

"You?" he asked in a strangled voice, as he turned around and pressed his back to the barrier between the two of them and death. After seeing Rima's head bob up and down in assurance of her well-being, he leaned his own against the door and sank down to the ground.

"What was…" Nagihiko seemed to realize that he would not be able to get an answer to that question and instead asked a different one. "Was that what you saw earlier?"

"Yes!" Kusukusu exclaimed with exuberance that confounded Nagihiko completely as Rima nodded once more.

"Well, then I understand why you were so freaked out," Nagihiko sighed, as he rested his head in a hand. He tried to calm his heart rate by taking deep, calming breaths but it didn't really do much for him at all. "Do you have your cellphone with you?"

"No," Rima looked down with a rather embarrassed look on her face, as if she wanted to smack herself for her stupidity, "I left it on the coffee table. I assume you don't have your's either?"

"I forgot to grab it I was in such a rush to get over here."

There was a long, choking silence that nearly suffocated everyone in the room before Rima could gather the nerve to speak. "Are… are we going to die?"

Nagihiko looked up at Rima standing above him with her hands clenched in fists and a stubborn yet fearful look on her face, and wished that he could say something that would comfort the poor girl.

But all he could do was answer truthfully.

"I really don't know, Rima-chan."

But there was one thing that he knew for certain: he would do whatever it took to keep her safe.

A/N: Originally there was planned to be a little bit more in this chapter and then a big cliffhanger, but I decided against it because I'm leaving for Europe tonight and 1: I don't want to have a huge cliffhanger over my 2 week absence and 2: The scene that would have been in here if kinda violent and I may have to change the rating to M, but I won't have time to determine whether or not I should do that now so I decided against it.

Anyway, I've finally gotten _somewhere_ with a fanfic so I posted one now before I could procrastinate any longer! I would _greatly_ appreciate it if you would review and favorite, because I would _love_ to have something to look forward to when I return from Europe next week! Please tell me how I can improve and what you liked so I would have motivation to continue this story when I get back! Thank you so much for reading and I hope to see you again soon! :)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Okay, just so you know, this is where things first start to get violent, and then it escalates from here. I'm not saying there's gruesome things every chapter, but they will occur pretty often. So, if you think I need to change the rating just tell me and I'll be more than happy to comply.  
>And kjdvbdvkbfbasbhk oh my god! I love you all! It was so fantastic to come back from Europe and see all those reviews and favorites. Thank you sooo much! :D<p>

Rima and Nagihiko had no idea how to gauge how much time had passed, as the two of them lay on the floor adjacent to each other, their blue and blonde hair mixing on the cold linoleum, while their guardian characters buzzed around anxiously. The only thing they knew was that the fingernails had stopped scrapping against the door which meant the "monster" was somewhere else in the house.

"Nagi, Are we ever gonna leave?" Rhythm asked in boredom, as he floated over his bearer's face. Nagihiko looked up at him with a agitated look.

"Seeing as how we will most likely be murdered if we leave, I say no for the time being," he replied in a sarcastic voice. Rhythm frowned at him.

"Keep your cool, dude!" he shot back in defense, "No need to snap like that!"

Rima scoffed at the small playboy, and rolled onto her side so she was facing the other two. "Of course there's no reason for him to be agitated. We're just being hunted down a horror movie monster after all."

Nagihiko stared up at her and there eyes met. As scared as he was he knew Rima was even more so, especially because she was slightly claustrophobic, and he really admired that she could still keep her sarcastic side. Her pools of gold met his warm brown ones, and he felt a thundering attack in his heart. His lips parted to say something to Rima, something he didn't even know he wanted to say but realized he'd truly always wanted to, but something cut him off…

The faint sound of a lock clicking and a door squeaking open.

"Oh my god! It's my mom!" Rima shrieked as jerked up to her feet. Nagihiko was soon to follow, with a frenzied expression and wide eyes. "What do we do?"

"We should go to her, right? Maybe that thing is gone and we can get out!"

"But… but what if it's not?" Rima's eyes bore intensely into Nagihiko's, trying to find reassurance in his words.

"Then we definitely need to go out there to save your mother." Before she could utter a word of protest, Nagihiko had pulled the door open and was dragging her from the room.

The two stormed down the stairs quickly, trying to get to Rima's mother and take her away before the thing could get them. Nagihiko dragged Rima to the living room, and both of them stopped and stared at the sight before them, trying to pretend it was all just a bad dream; Rima's mom was hanging her coat up in the closet and right behind her in the doorway was the "monster." As the two looked at it thoroughly for the first time, they noticed that besides it's creepy face it was pretty much normal. It had on all black clothes that matched it's long black hair. The only thing truly horrifying about it at this moment (besides the face) was the ax that glinted from behind it's back.

"Oh, hello Nagi-kun! Rima didn't tell me that you would be here today!" She turned to smile at the two as she dug through her purse for something, evidently unaware of the horror behind her. "I'm going to assume she got scared and called you, right? I can always count on you to take care of her."

She looked up with a grin that soon disappeared as her eyes met two wide pairs filled with uncontrollable terror. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Rima made a croaking sort of sound as she slowly raised a finger to point at her mother, but Nagihiko shoved her hand back down quickly.

"Ma-Mashiro-san, please come over here now," Nagihiko whispered in a strangled voice. If she came over without looking back the figure may leave her alone, but if she looked back she would for sure be killed immediately. She had to make it over to them quickly so that they could escape back upstairs once more.

"I'm sorry. You'll need to speak up, Nagi-kun."

"Come over here now. Please." Nagihiko extended a shaking hand out, in hopes that Rima's mother would simply trust him… he had no such luck.

"Just a second. I have to put my purse over-" She cut off as she turned and locked "eyes" with the thing at her doorway. Her eyes grew to the size of saucers as she drew in a large gasp before letting the air out in a ear-shattering scream. At once, the figure shot an arm out towards her. The ax swung wildly around, the metal glistening in the ceiling light, as the smirk of it's bearer grew more sadistic as harsh laughter was emitted.

Nagihiko frantically slapped his hand against Rima's face, causing her skin to sting as her eyes were covered from the image of the ax ripping the flesh of her mom's stomach. Blood splattered the floor as the figure swung again. Screams echoed throughout the air as she was hit once more before her consciousness was lost. Her body sunk down to the ground as her guts began to spill from her torn stomach. With every swing the sound of bones cracking could be heard, as her limbs were slowly and excruciatingly chopped up.

Nagihiko was paralyzed. The only thing he could do was make sure his hand stayed tight over the girl's eyes so that she would not be subjected to the terror of seeing her mother's organs strewed across the carpet of her living room. The sight devoured his senses. He couldn't look away as flesh fell to the floor and blood stained the walls. His stomach lurched and bile filled his mouth as he tried to hold his vomit back.

"Man, run!" Rhythm suddenly screamed into his bearer's ear, and Nagihiko was jerked back into reality. Rima squirmed in his arms, terrified tears falling into his shaking palm. He still had to protect her.

Nagihiko lowered his lips down to Rima's ear and whispered softly into her ear, "Keep your eyes closed until I say it's okay."

Rima nodded, and Nagihiko swiftly grabbed her body and hoisted it into his arms. Without glancing back at the carnage on the floor or the killer laughing cruelly, he ran up the stairs, skipping several at a time. Racing down the hall loud pants of breath filled his own ears. The door to Rima's room flew open as Nagihiko threw himself in, and then locked the door up tightly.

"You can look," he uttered quickly as he dropped her onto the floor without warning. Her eyes flew open as she stumbled to gain footing on the ground, tripping over her own feet.

Nagihiko raced over to the dresser near the door and leaned against it, pushing it over to barricade the exit. After doing that he stumbled over to Rima's bed and collapsed on it, Rima sitting down next to him soon after.

"Is… is my mother…" Rima couldn't finish the question, but Nagihiko got the gist of what she was asking. It hurt incredibly to do so, but all he could do was nod his head.

Rima let out a small sob, her bottom lip quivering as she tried to restrain herself. She brought a hand to her face and muffled her tears into it, trying not to be weak while a monster was in her house.

"Rima-chan, I'm really sorry. I should have been able to do more," Nagihiko said softly, as he reached up a hand from where he lay on his back and softly caressed her cheek. Her tears dripped down his fingers and splattered against the bedspread as she shook her head.

"No. If you weren't here I'd probably have died straight away. Or I'd have had to see that by myself in the best situation."

Nagihiko grinned weakly up at her as he struggled to think of something comforting to say, but was saved from doing so by an interruption that only made things ten times worse.

"Yo, Nagi! This is _bad_!" Rhythm said loudly, his eyes wide with fear from the window across the room.

"What is it?" Nagihiko asked as he sat up. Kusukusu glanced at the glass pane before turning to her bearer with a horrified expression.

"Amu and the others are coming." Rima had forgotten that it had been her turn to house the guardians' meeting. It had seemed like such a minuscule detail compared to being chased down by an ax-wielding maniac, but now she realized her mistake. If they came up to the carnage below, her best friends would all be killed just like her mother had been.

"We have to stop them!" Rima screamed at Nagihiko as she flew to the window, throwing it open to stick her head outside. Yaya bounced happily as she dragged a protesting Amu towards the house while Kukai laughed merrily, with Tadase and Kairi peacefully bringing up the rear. The group had no idea of their immediate death.

"Amu-chan!" Nagihiko screamed as loudly as he could as his head protruded from the window as well, but he had no luck; they were simply too far away for their noisy friends to hear them.

"What do we do? We can't go down there and my cell phone's still on the table!" Rima panicked, her mind racing as she struggled to find a way to get herself and Nagihiko out but keep her friends away.

Nagihiko's mind suddenly went blank, his arms moving on his own until they wrapped around Rima's body. She let out a harsh shriek as he drew her up into him and let out a sharp smirk.

"We're just gonna jump, babe!" he said in a cocky tone unlike his own and Rima realized what was going on as she spied the headphones around the boy's neck. Well, she supposed this was one way to get out.

The two flew out from the open window, their bodies careening towards the hard ground below. Nagihiko's legs shook with the shock of impact and he nearly fell over. Several yards away, the guardians stopped where they stood and stared at the petrified girl and triumphant boy with wide eyes.

"Dude, how the hell did you do that? And what the hell are you doing with Mashiro?" Kukai looked like he was both disgusted and proud of Nagihiko.

"No time!" Rima explained while sliding out of Nagihiko's arms as the headphones disappeared, "Just run as far away as possible!"

Everyone stared at her for a moment while Nagihiko looked around with a very disorientated expression, as if wondering how he came to be outside, before Rima screamed at them once more. "GO!"

Nagihiko obeyed Rima at least, taking her hand and dragging her after him. As he passed the others he grabbed Amu's hand as well and traded Rima's for Tadase's. As he dragged his friend's along the others frantically chased after him, yelling frenzied questions that got jumbled up in the air.

Rima chanced a glance back and let out a high pitched scream. The figure was exiting the house and watching them go with something akin to amusement. She turned back to face front and sped up. Unfortunately her scream got the others' attention though, and they all looked back in unison before letting out almost as equally scared yells.

"What the hell is _that_?" Amu questioned as she hurried to keep up with Nagihiko, who was all but pulling her arm out of the socket.

"Don't ask me!" he yelled back in response, "It's not good though, that's for sure!"

"What's wrong with it's face? It's like it's a corpse or something!" Tadase yelled as he raced to keep up. The group quickly rounded the corner at the end of the street, racing away from the house. Thinking about it, the body _did_ seem a lot like a corpse, although one with the eyes removed, the skin having lost all it's color, and the body having received a blow to the head then.

"Except corpses cannot move!" Kairi yelled back to him, snapping this ridiculous notion from Nagihiko's head. No, the killer wasn't just a corpse... it was a monster.

When they reached another corner Nagihiko went to go right but Kairi stopped and gestured to the left. "The police station is this way… I assume you want to go there?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," Nagihiko said as he nodded his head certainly. Maybe they could get to the police and they could get to Rima's mom in time to…

No. As much as Nagihiko really hated to admit it, Rima's mom was without a doubt deceased. As the group ran along behind him he let his mind wander and images of Rima lying on the floor, blood staining her golden locks and organs showing from her torn flesh, her eyes wide in terror as her mouth gaped in a silent scream, filled his mind. He shuddered as he ran, thankful that Rima had called him and that he had saved her from that fate.

Why had Rima called him, though? Maybe she wanted to just kill him off, thinking that if he died it wouldn't be a big loss, or… maybe she had grown to trust in him. Maybe she had desired his presence because he was a comfort to her.

Whatever the reason, Nagihiko was extremely glad that she had called him. True, seeing one of your best friend's mothers brutally killed by a creepy white corpse of a monster was a horrific thing to witness but if he was able to keep Rima from seeing it it was definitely worth it.

When the group flung themselves through the doors to the police station they received _many_ curious looks. The receptionist standing behind the desk starred at the seven with wide eyes and a confused expression. One of the officers over by the water cooler moved his hand to his gun's case and eyed the group warily, as if worried one of them was packing a bomb or would start slashing the civilians sitting around.

"C-can I help you?" the woman behind the desk asked uncertainly as she blinked at the group in front of her.

"Yes! My mother was murdered! Right down the road, at 5600 Sakura street! Her body is still there and the guy who did it too! Please! Hurry!" Rima practically dove at the receptionist with frenzied eyes. Her fingers grasped onto the counter in order to stabilize herself, because if she was left alone she knew she would collapse to the floor in a heap of limbs.

"Alright sweetie please calm down and speak slowly," the woman replied in a quite condescending voice, staring down at the young girl in front of her as though she was a six year old insisting her pet unicorn killed the President of the United States. Nagihiko shot forward as well.

"Her mom was just killed! There was some weird… thing that broke into her house and then it chased us down and killed her mother! You have to go there quick!"

The smiling receptionist let out a small sigh as she gestured over to the cop who was toying with his gun. "Sato-san, can you go with these kids to check on their house? They think the young girl's mother was murdered or something."

"It's true! We're not just crazy kids, I swear!" Amu's assurances of their sanity didn't really do any good, especially considering she was wide-eyed and jittery.

"Sure you're not, sweetheart," the receptionist smiled at the group but as they turned to follow the cop Nagihiko saw her mouth something that looked an awful lot like "check them for drugs."

Nagihiko swallowed deeply as he pushed open the wooden door at the entrance of Rima's house. Rima gripped his shirt from one side as Amu did from the other. After hearing all of the details on the walk over, the other group was even more scared then before.

Nagihiko shut his eyes tightly, expecting to see carnage on the floor and smell the stench of death in the air. He could practically hear the scream of Rima's mother as her stomach was ripped in two. He didn't want to see it again. He didn't want Rima or Amu to see it either, or anyone else for that matter. He also didn't want the _thing _in there to jump out and kill him either.

"Nagi, dude, open your eyes!" Rhythm said loudly in his bearer's ear, causing him to open his eyes to see a sight more starling than anything else that day…

Normality.

The carpet was absolutely clean, not a speak of blood on the pure white floor. The walls were clean as well, free from the gore that had splattered them only minutes earlier. And most surprisingly of all… Rima's mother was nowhere to be found.

"Where… where is she? Nagihiko?" Rima turned to Nagihiko as if expecting him to say he hadn't really seen her die or he had stuffed her in the closet before they left. But Nagihiko could say no such thing because it wasn't true: Rima's mother had been killed before his eyes, her body's whole skewed about the carpet.

"I… I… she was here. She was definitely here! And there was blood… all over…! I… what's…?"

Nagihiko looked quite taken aback. The others flooded the room, looking around wildly as if expecting to find the body lying about somewhere or the killer lurking behind one of the tall loveseats.

"Crazy kids," the cop muttered with a frown. He glared down at the shell-shocked Nagihiko and Rima and snapped, "Don't report false crimes! It wastes our time! I'll give you a warning this time but if you do this again you're going to have to pay a fine."

The officer stomped away irritably as Rima stared blankly into the room.

"Was she definitely dead, Nagihiko? Without a doubt dead?"

Nagihiko shook his head slowly. "There was no possible way she could have been alive."

"You know what this means then, right?" Kairi asked as he closed the closet he was looking through and turned back to his friends. They all shook their heads and stared at him expectantly. "That thing, the killer, he moved the body and cleaned up the mess."

Kukai furrowed his eyebrows at the younger boy. "But what does that mean? That he didn't want people to know he exists or what he did? Or did he maybe want Mashiro-san's body?"

Rima shuddered at the thought of the killer taking her mother's body and using it to his liking, doing all kinds of unmentionable things to it.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Souma-senpai. But if there's one thing I know for certain it is this,"

Kairi turned to Rima and stared down at her, straight into her eyes. "The killer definitely wants Mashiro-senpai dead, and he will most likely keep trying until he succeeds."

It was finally all too much for Rima to take. But Rima wasn't so much of a pansy as to faint, so she instead stared at the others blankly and then muttered, "excuse me for a moment."

She walked into the closet, closed the door behind her, and then there was a moment of silence…

Before the sound of fists and feet hitting the walls rang out through the room, along with many profanities.

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT TO HELL!"

And little did she know that things were about to get much worse.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I hope chapter two didn't disappoint you much. Again, I really would love some feedback. Tell me what I can improve on and if you have any suggestions or ideas I would be more than happy to consider them! Oh, and can someone tell me how to _not_ make the story upload into a big condensed paragraph, because its really annoying and i cannot seem to figure out how to fix it. :(  
>Again, thanks so much for your reviews and I'll try to upload the next chapter in a few days! :)<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Edit: Fudge. FF took out my paragraph breaks. DANG YOU! Hope people don't end up spammed with alerts from me trying to fix it, eheheh. Sorry if you do! And ignore the little words (Break.) because those will temporarily be the paragraph breaks.

Rima wasn't quite sure how she ended up in Nagihiko's bedroom on a small fold-out cot, or how she could get out of that situation either. The boy had insisted that Rima come home with him rather than stay in her house alone with a killer, and while Rima agreed that she didn't want to stay in her house any longer she didn't really know why she had had to to with Nagihiko of all people. It was kind of like a bad fanfiction she thought. But, she supposed, it was better than nothing and she at least knew that she could rely on him now.

But yet something nagged at her. Why would Nagihiko, a boy she claimed she hated and abused on a daily basis, come and risk his life to save her without a second thought? It would certainly make his life a lot easier if she were to die, and he probably assumed that she wouldn't give a damn if he were to be killed in his attempts to rescue her. Heck, he might even assume that she wanted him to die and purposely led him there. So why risk everything for her?

"Why did you come to save me so willingly?" Rima asked Nagihiko as she laid down on the cot, her blonde hair falling across her body as she picked at a piece of lint on the sheets below her.

Nagihiko answered her question with one of his own. "Why did you call me of all people to come help you?"

Honestly neither one of them could answer the question the other posed, even though the answer to both was surely the same exact thing.

Instead of answering this question, Rima asked him something of much more importance.

"How about this… why did you take me upstairs? Why didn't you let me leave?" Nagihiko pondered this question, and realized he didn't have a logical answer to this one either.

"I'm not sure. It was as if the killer had called to me or something… it was as if I could feel it."

Nagihiko stared at Rima blankly. His mind was spinning as he tried to make sense of the words coming out of his own mouth, not quite knowing what exactly he meant.

"Feel it?" Rima looked as though Nagihiko was taking the drugs that the cops thought he had been earlier that day. Nagihiko bit his lip.

"I can't explain it."

"Nagi, man, you've totally lost it," Rhythm sighed with an ashamed shake of his head. Temari gave him a fierce glare.

"No, Rhythm. I felt it too. The weird attachment to that thing. It was as if it it were speaking to me," Temari said in a deep, yet oddly serene voice. It was odd, but she was even more calm then usual. It was as though the gruesome murder she had witnessed didn't faze her in the slightest.

Kusukusu blinked at her fellow guardian character with wide eyes. "I felt its presence, like with guardian eggs but… I didn't feel it calling to me or anything like that."

"Rhythm is right… you've lost it." Rima directed this snarky comment towards Nagihiko, who in turn frowned over at the vaguely smirking girl.

"I think anyone would lose it after seeing what I saw." Nagihiko regretted the words the second they left his mouth. He wanted her to forget about her mother's death, and bringing it up would surely make that impossible. And if he could allow her to think her mother's death had not left him totally shaken, that it wasn't as horrific as he had initially made it out to be, then that was all for the better.

"Yeah, Rima! You're lucky you didn't see the carnage in there! It was nasty! There were guts and blood everywhere!" Rhythm spoke excitedily, almost as if he were enjoying the whole horror movie type experience, obviously not taking note of Nagihiko's attempts to distract Rima from her mother's death. As he talked Rima's expression dropped and she grew even more pale, although Nagihiko had no idea how that was possible. He, taking note of the girl's worsening mood, smacked his guardian character out of the air harshly with a hateful glare.

"Too soon?" Rhythm moaned from the sheets of Nagihiko's bed. Nagihiko scowled harshly at him in response.

"It's fine. I was never really close to my mother so it's not really a huge deal," Rima rolled over so that she was facing away from Nagihiko, not wanting him to see the weakness in her quivering lip or wet eyes.

"Liar," Nagihiko muttered, knowing full well that Rima was currently in quite a lot of distress, "You just don't want me to see you cry."

Nagihiko received no response from Rima, which was a sure sign that he had been correct.

Rima pressed her face into the pillow under her, muffling the tears silently into the cool fabric. She knew Nagihiko knew she was crying, and she really didn't want him to see her do so, but she couldn't contain herself. Her mother had just been brutally killed, her body stolen away, never to be seen again. She would never get to hug her mom, or argue with her mom, or spend time with her mom ever again. Her mom, who she had just recently started to get close to again, was dead. She would never see her turn into an adult, or get married in the far future (to no one in particular, of course) and she would never get to have grandchildren.

Her mom would never tell her she loved her again.

Rima let out a huge, uncontrollable sob into the pillow, all attempts to stop herself forever lost. Nagihiko rubbed her back in what he hoped was a soothing manner as he looked down at her with a heartbroken expression. It killed him to see Rima in so much pain. So much so that he killed the nagging feeling in his chest in his tracks.

The attraction to the killer, the notion that somehow the killer was linked to him, the feeling that something incredibly horrible was happening... he dismissed it all. He had to be tired, or maybe he was shocked after what he witnessed.

Kairi was full of crap. Nothing was going to happen and tomorrow everything would be normal and nobody was going to try to hurt Rima.

…Yeah, right.

(Break.)

The sound of footsteps roused Tadase from the depths of his dreams, plunging him straight into the dark night. He lay still in his bed for a second, straining to make out what had woken him up. The room was eerily silent for a moment, and Tadase, deciding his mind was playing tricks on him, lay his head back down to fade back into his dreams.

But then he heard it again. There were clearly footsteps echoing against his walls, and they were clearly coming from his room. But who would be in his room at this hour? Tadase spent a moment wondering who it could possibly be before deciding it must be his mother.

"Mother, is that you?" Tadase asked in an uncertain voice, as he raised his body up onto his elbows. It was too dark to see much in the room; all he could make out was the faint outline of a woman standing near the foot of the bed.

Tadase waited for his mom to respond, but she didn't. Instead she simply moved closer to him, the old wooden floor creaking under her feet. Tadase squinted ahead of him as he sat up. What in the world was his mother doing in his room during the middle of the night?

"Tadase-kun…" the creaky voice that uttered his name definitely wasn't his mother's. Tadase jerked back against the headboard of his bed, pressing himself far away from the intruder.

"Who, who are you?" Try as he might, Tadase couldn't recognize the intruder's voice. In the back of his head he vaguely recalled hearing it once or twice before, but he couldn't place where that was. He knew that voice though.

"Tadase-kun…" The moans of the intruder sent shivers down Tadase's spine. He didn't have a good feeling about this. His mind shot to the events that took place earlier that day, Rima's mother's murder and the mysterious corpse-like killer that did it. Was he going to be killed like her, his body stolen away in the end?

"Kiseki," Tadase whispered out into the darkness as he pushed himself even farther back, desperate to get away but knowing he wouldn't be able to, not knowing if he were asking for his guardian character or just a miracle. The little king didn't respond though, and when Tadase glanced over at where he ought to be he couldn't even make out a silhouette of his egg. What a lovely time for a midnight stroll.

He had to turn a light on so that he could identify what was in his room. If he could see it he could defend himself against it, or maybe even escape from his room and get protection from his parents. There was nothing he could do in the dark, where he could only faintly tell where the intruder was.

Tadase's hand fumbled for his lamp's switch right before a cold hand grasped his foot. He let out a sharp shriek and thrust his hand towards the lamp desperately, hitting it to the side by mistake. The lamp fell to the floor with a loud crash, the glass body shattering into a million pieces. Tadase stared at the glittering shards lying on the floor in shock, his eyes wide as he realized...

He was going to end up broken just like that lamp.

"Don't worry, Tadase-kun," the intruder said in a cold voice that made Tadase feel as though he was going to be sick. Somehow, having been told not to worry made Tadase's worry increase exponentially.

A sudden gust of wind blew the curtains to the side, letting in a sheet of bright moonlight. Tadase's mouth fell open as he bore straight into a pair of golden eyes he had seen time and time again: Rima's.

"Mashiro-san?" Tadase croaked out, before another hand grabbed his other foot and pulled him down to the end of he bed harshly. He let out a small cry, as he found the face of his good friend's deceased mother inches from his own. It looked different, though. The eyes looked rather unfocused, the skin on the face was bruised, and a slow trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth. "But you died."

A small smirk grew on her face. "Dead doesn't mean gone."

Tadase opened his mouth to ask another question, or maybe just scream for help, but he wasn't able to.

Instead, the world turned black.

(Break.)

Mizue knocked onto the door of Tadase's room, perplexed as to why her usually early rising son was still asleep.

"Tadase-kun? Are you awake yet?" Mizue waited a moment, but received no response. She frowned. Maybe he was listening to music and couldn't hear him. He had grown fond of wearing headphones lately.

"Tadase-kun?" She knocked once more, and again received no response. Mizue's heart skipped a beat. Something was wrong, she knew it. Tadase was a good boy, even now in his teenage years. He would never ignore her, and he always managed to respond the second time she called his name even if he had his headphones in.

"I'm coming in, sweetheart," she called as she pushed open the door, somehow knowing that what she found would not be pleasant. But yet, as soon as she saw what was inside she let out a sharp gasp and stumbled backwards, not at all expecting what she saw.

"YUI!" she screamed for her husband as loud as possible, her body quivering from the shock that consumed her.

The sheets of Tadase's bed had been ripped away and lay on the floor, along with the curtains to his window, in a tangled mess, dotted with specks of blood. The lamp that had rested on his bedside table lay on the floor, broken beyond repair. The weird egg decoration Tadase had acquired somewhere and was oddly fond of lay on the floor, a mess of broken, what appeared to be, ceramics. But the worst thing was the wall above Tadase's bed.

In what appeared to be blood was written a cruel message that caused Mizue's heart to drop out of her chest:

You've forsaken me, now I'll forsake you all.

Say goodbye to life.

Only death awaits you now.

Mizue collapsed to the floor, her heart thundering in her ears as her husband and the guest Tadase would have been so happy to see ran into the room at top speed. Her son was gone, gone forever. There was no ransom note, simply a promise of death. There was nothing she could do now, but only if she had been more observant during the night. The lamp must have made such a sound when it broke. How could she have not heard that?

"No!" The guest's blue eyes were huge, taking in the room with utmost horror. His finger's gripped the doorframe as he struggled to steady himself. This wasn't happening. It was all just a bad dream. This couldn't be happening just because he returned last night, right? He wasn't really cursed, was he?

Was it his fault that Tadase was dead?

He saw the egg crushed on the floor and let out a strangled sob. He was the cause of this, wasn't he?

Would he end up killing them all?

A/N: Okay, originally this Tadase stuff wasn't going to go down for a couple more chapters, but this story is moving waaaay faster than I initially thought it would. Slow down, you dang plot development! And i feel like it's definitely not scary enough. Bleh. XP Oh, and the guest, (I added him in spur of the moment), I bet you can all guess who he is, right? ;)

Any advice for how to improve it? It'd be greatly appreciated! And even if you don't want to review (which I understand completely) at least add it to your favorites please! And thank you everyone for your support! I love getting those emails like "so-and-so added you to their favorites" it makes me smile every time! (but I love the reviews even more, hint hint. lol) Anyway, see you soon! :)


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Oh the writers block I faced with this chapter. It went through five versions… FIVE! Ugh. Sorry it's so late too. I had planned to post it on like Thursday but then I got writers block, had to go to work, and then edit it. I fail. T^T

Nagihiko adjusted his black jacket, staring at his reflection in the mirror with a slight grimace. He glanced down at his watch and tsked.

"Mother! We're going to be late to school unless you let Rima-chan go!"

His mother had always loved Rima's hair, and now that she had her in her clutches it seemed as though she wouldn't let her go before trying about a hundred different hairstyles on the poor girl. Nagihiko thought that if she loved her hair so much, she should have started styling it earlier in the morning.

"Just a minute, Nagi-chan!" his mother yelled back at him, causing the poor boy to sigh. If his perfect attendance record got broken now-

"Good morning, Nagihiko-kun," a forceful voice rang out through the front hall, causing Nagihiko to swivel around while wearing a customary smile. Standing before him was his grandmother, a strong and opinionated old woman who fought to uphold the traditional ways of the Fujisaki household. Because he had abandoned his cross-dressing lifestyle, unlike his cousins, Nagihiko wasn't in great standing with her. But as she was staying with the family for a short time, Nagihiko knew he must try to get back on her good side.

"Good morning, grandmother. I am glad to see you are looking healthy as always," Nagihiko said as he bowed to his elder. She frowned at him.

"Of course I am healthy, foolish child. No need to point out the obvious," the old woman snapped at her grandson. Nagihiko stood up straight and awkwardly grinned down at the shorter yet very threatening woman.

"Now Nagihiko-kun, it has come to my attention that you have been behaving horribly lately."

"Excuse me?" Nagihiko asked politely, his eyebrows shooting up in shock. He had been on his best behavior lately, and he was pretty sure saving peoples' lives would never be considered bad behavior. _E__ver_.

"Sorry, I meant that you have been disrespectful toward your family's traditions," his grandmother clarified, with a small shake of her head. Nagihiko frowned. He had thought he had been behaving quite well according to the traditional way lately, save for the fact that he wasn't wearing a skirt, that is.

"If this is about dressing as a woman again-"

"No, Nagihiko-kun," the woman cut him off sharply with a fierce look on her face. "You have forgotten the past."

"Forgotten... the past…?" Nagihiko had no idea what she meant. He was pretty sure he knew what had happened in the previous years of his life, and knew about the major events that took place before his birth. Even more than that, he could trace his own family's histroy back centuries.

"If you forget it, it _will_ consume you."

Nagihiko frowned and opened his mouth to ask what exactly she meant by forgetting the past and how it would consume him, but stopped as the door at the end of the hall flew open and his short friend entered the hallway.

She walked quickly towards him, her blonde hair securely tied behind her in a long French braid. Upon reaching the boy (whose grandmother had left without another word) she hissed "We're leaving now before she changes her mind again and I end up in hair ribbons."

Nagihiko smiled down at the girl. He had never known that she looked so good with her hair tied back. "Your hair looks very nice like that, Rima-chan."

Rima's face took on a hint of pink before she pushed past him and slipped her shoes on. "Don't flirt with me."

Nagihiko chuckled a bit as he slipped on his shoes and ran after the short girl who had taken off across his yard. Today he would make sure Rima kept her mind off of yesterday's events no matter what it took.

(Break.)

The classroom was practically silent. Save for their teacher, nobody spoke, nobody moved, nobody breathed.

Amu stared up at her teacher, Nikaido, her eyes wide and full of disbelief, her stomach plummeting through the floorboards. Her palms were sweaty, her forehead too. She was hot and dizzy and sick. The world spun around wildly, her vision fading. Her heartbeat was erratic, pounding just to skip a beat a moment later.

Amu's head fell forward into her hands. From the corner of her eyes she could see Nagihiko pulling on his hair with clenched teeth, and Rima grasping at her stomach. Kirishima covered his mouth as his eyes watered. Manami seemed to be praying, her hands together beneath her bowed head as she whispered under her breath. Saaya was for once speechless, simply staring off while sniffling quietly.

Everyone was mourning Tadase, because there was no chance he could be alive. But Amu wasn't going to lose hope that easily.

So what if the odds of him being alive were 100 to 1. So what? Tadase was strong. He would be able to hold on. So what if he was kidnapped and his death was promised on the wall? He would live. She knew he would

Somewhere deep inside herself, though, Amu knew she was simply lying to herself.

(Break.)

The guardians along with the Tsukiyomi siblings sat in their guardian club room. Everyone was rather quiet, either not knowing what to say or not trusting themselves to vocalize words.

Ikuto, it had turned out, was with Tadase's parents when they found his ransacked room. He had stopped by to talk about his still lost father with Yui, who offered to let him stay with them for a few days. It was obvious now that he would be needing somewhere else to stay now, as Mizue had become adamant that the "Black Cat of Misfortune" had struck once again. She had screamed at him that he had killed her son, and although Yui tried to convince her otherwise she wouldn't listen to a word of Ikuto's pleas of innocence. So he had gone to the school to tell the others the news, calling Utau to tell her as well.

Nobody had ever seen Ikuto so shaken up. He looked positively horrified and full of grief. He didn't blink an eye when Amu pulled him into a tight hug, and even joined in when she started to sob into his chest. Then again, Tadase was practically Ikuto's little brother, and they had been together for ages.

After a long period in which everyone shed some tears, Kairi finally managed to speak up. "I don't want to alarm anybody, but there is a good chance another one of us may die sometime soon."

Amu jumped to her feet while exclaiming, "We don't know for sure that Tadase's dead yet!"

Everyone turned to Amu and gave her a pitying look, knowing that she was carrying false hope.

"Sorry, I meant that one of us may be killed _or kidnapped_ sometime soon," Kairi corrected himself. Ikuto gently pulled Amu back into her seat.

"What do you mean?" Utau, who had been clued in, along with Ikuto, as to what had happened the day before, asked. Kukai rubbed her hand with his own while looking expectantly at the younger boy.

"Well, it's pretty safe to assume this death is liked to the death of Mashiro-san yesterday." As Kairi spoke Nagihiko glanced over at Rima to make sure she was okay. Besides looking a little more glum than usual he was relieved to see she looked pretty good, considering the situation that is.

Kukai nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, what are the odds that two closely related people were the acts of horror-like killings, er, and kidnappings in less than twenty-four hours?"

"Very slim," Nagihiko agreed.

"And there's something else I didn't mention," Ikuto said quietly, in a voice quite unlike his usual teasing tone. He looked up and said something that terrified them even more.

"Kiseki's egg had been crushed."

Everyone's eyes widened hugely as they gaped up at him. That meant that the killer had knowledge of the little beings, and they probably wouldn't be able to use them to their advantage.

Utau voiced this thought, but Kairi added on something worse. "It also means these deaths are definitely related to us."

"How so?" Yaya asked as she tilted her head, having no idea how the two related. Kairi pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Well, if they were just two random coincidental killings, would they kill the guardian character? Kiseki surely couldn't have stopped him if he possessed such power to kill Mashiro-san like Fujisaki-senpai said he had. On top of that, most people cannot see heart's eggs. He would only destroy it to purposely leave it as a sign for us."

What he said made perfect sense. Why else would one destroy a practically useless guardian egg? Only as a warning of sorts… or maybe not a warning, but rather a sign.

"You said one of us may be killed soon… who do you think that would be?" Rima asked quietly, as though she didn't really want to know the answer. Kairi pondered this for a moment before answering somewhat hesitantly, as though he were holding something back.

"Well, I still think that it may be you, seeing as your house was targeted first, but there is also a good chance that it could be anyone in this room, although it is more likely that it is one of the guardians rather than the Tsukiyomi siblings, seeing as they are not as closely related to Mashiro-senpai."

"So you think the murders were committed _because_ of Rima-chan?" Nagihiko asked with a horrified look on his face. He glanced over at the short girl and noted that she looked quite shocked by Kairi's accusation.

Kairi shrugged "Maybe. It's impossible to say for sure without more evidence, but there are hints to it."

Nagihiko fidgeted in his chair. He had come to think that the deaths could have somehow been related to him forgetting the said past his grandmother had spoken of, but that didn't really fit with what Kairi said.

Meanwhile Ikuto was pondering whether or not he could actually have caused this as well. True, he wasn't particularly close to the little midget, but she _was_ very good friends with both Amu and Tadase, both of which he was very close to. He supposed he would have to wait to see if he had truly caused this, but at the current moment he was very unsure.

"I have a question!" Yaya suddenly burst in, as she raised her hand and leapt to her feet energetically. Kairi looked up at her expectantly and she asked a question nobody had thought about in light of the current situation. "Who have we all forsaken?"

Nobody had an answer to that, not even Kairi. "I honestly don't have the vaguest idea."

Nagihiko thought hard about it, and wondered if that person they had "forsaken" had been the "past" they had forgotten. But no, his grandmother was not a prophet or an oracle; she would have no idea what was going on. And what, they'd all just forget a person that they had harmed that badly? No way.

"Maybe it's… one of you guys." Everyone's heads snapped to stare at Temari, who, along with the other guardian characters, had remained silent for most of the conversation. She floated somewhat calmly above Nagihiko's shoulder, giving the others a wary look.

"One of us?" Utau asked, as if she had never heard such a preposterous idea. Ikuto paled at this, his thoughts once again creeping across his mind.

"It is possible," Kairi noted with a dull voice, trying to not think that it was possible, but finding such to be impossible to do, "They could be controlling the killer's actions."

"But the killer looks just like a corpse! How in the world would one of us control that kind of thing? It's impossible!" Amu's voice rose as she grew angrier. She had absolute faith in her friends, and could never imagine that one of them could ever do something so horrible.

"As impossible as magic egg beings that represent your dreams and give you magical powers?" Kairi asked in a serious tone, causing Amu to look down. "And besides that, they may not realize what they're doing at all. The killer could possibly being acting as their heart wishes, but they may not be consciously controlling it."

Nagihiko suddenly got an odd feeling. He looked over at Rima, who was frowning at the table, and a sudden realization hit him. The killer had come to her first… maybe it was following her so that it could do as she wishes. She was a great actress, after all. She could fake fear easily. Maybe she _had _tried to kill Nagihiko off, which is why she called him over! She _did_ dislike him, after all.

Nagihiko immediately shook this idea away. No, Rima was his friend. He trusted her. She would never do that to anyone.

"Kairi, excuse me for being rude but… you're full of shit!" Everyone stated at Amu as she snapped, the stress of Tadase's death, or so-called "kidnapping," finally pushing her over the brink, "I love and trust everyone in this room! They would never do anything to hurt anyone else, especially not each other!"

Kairi stared down in shame, his eyes full of regret. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

Amu's expression changed to an apologetic one. "Er, I probably shouldn't have snapped at you like that either. Sorry."

"Maybe we better go home and rest. I think our nerves are shot and our emotions are getting the best of us," Nagihiko stood up and rested a hand on Amu's shoulder. She smiled weakly up at him.

"You're right. We shouldn't be fighting right now."

Not when one of them may be killed much too soon.

As everyone made to leave, trying to put the mood back to normal by laughing and joking halfheartedly, Kairi grabbed Ikuto's arm and pulled him aside. "I need to talk to you."

Ikuto froze. Kairi thought it was his fault, didn't he? He thought the black cat of misfortune had killed two people. If he said it, it would probably be true, the kid was a genius after all. "Yes?"

"I didn't say anything because I didn't want to alarm anyone but I thought you would like to know…"

Oh god. How could Ikuto ever talk to Amu again? Or his sister? He should leave Japan again, shouldn't he? He was just endangering the ones he loved by being here.

But then Kairi said something much worse, something that caused Ikuto's heart to stop.

"There is a high chance that the killer will go after Hinamori-senpai tonight."

(Break.)

"Oh, my beautiful dove! Be extra careful to lock your balcony door tonight, alright? Papa heard that another young girl was kidnapped this morning!" Amu's dad was teary-eyed at the prospect of his daughter being stolen from him. Amu simply groaned and headed upstairs, leaving half of her dinner siting on her plate.

"Sure, Papa." She had much worse problems then the kidnappings of young girls right now… like the kidnapping of her friend.

She walked down the hall, stopping briefly at her door. She had never been a fan of the occult, and the whole experience had her quite shaken up. She took a deep breath. Nothing was in her room.

She pushed open the door and walked into the room to see that it was pitch black which was strange, considering her guardian characters were in there and she had thought she left the curtain open to let in some moonlight.

"Ran? Dia? You guys? Why is the room dark?" Amu called out into the darkness, her hand fumbling against the wall to find the light switch. A sliding sound came from behind and she froze in her tracks. Her closet had just been opened… and not by her.

She tried to build the nerve to turn around, but she found herself frozen. Her breath hitched as she heard a loud thump, followed by Suu screaming in a scared voice, "Amu-chan!"

Oh god, Suu was being killed just as Kiseki had been! And she was going to be kidnapped- aw screw it- killed, just like Tadase.

Amu's breath came out quickly, her heart thundering in her ears. Oh god oh god oh god! She was going to die! She was going to die without telling Ikuto her true feelings! She let out a small sob right before a hand grasped her shoulder and jerked her around.

She let out a loud scream, terror consuming her, before the light to her room was flicked on and she saw Ikuto standing there, confusion evident on his face, with the guardian characters behind him, Suu stuck underneath a particularly large book that the others were trying to drag off of her.

"What's wrong? It's just me."

Amu glared at Ikuto before wiping a tear out from the corner of her eye. "I can see that now. What the hell were you-"

"Amu-chan!" Amu's dad was yelling, his voice accompanied by the sound of feet rushing up the stairs. Well, she supposed she _had_ screamed awfully loud, and he _was _worried about the kidnappings. It was expected that he'd come running to her rescue. Amu's face darkened once more.

"Quick! Into the closet!" Amu shoved Ikuto into the closet, slamming the door harshly behind him. Just as the door closed her own flew open to reveal her parents standing there with frantic looks on their faces.

"Are you alright?" her mother asked, obviously very worried about her daughter.

"Uh, yeah. I thought I saw a spider but it was just a shadow! I guess I overreacted a little bit, huh?" Amu giggled nervously as she leaned against the closet "casually," trying to get her parents out of the room as soon as possible.

"A little?" Midori cocked an eyebrow as she eyed her daughter suspiciously. Even though she was a spaz, she didn't scream like that often.

"Uh yeah. And if you'll excuse me I'm _really_ tired so I'd like to go to sleep now!" Her patents stared at her rather suspiciously for a moment before slowly exiting the room.

"And lock that door!" her father ordered before the door was shut once more. Amu let out a sigh of relief as Ikuto slid the closet door open and walked past her.

"You handled that… well." Amu caught the sarcasm in his voice and frowned at him.

"Well sorry, but I don't especially like lying to my parents, which I only seem to do when you're around, by the way!" Amu stopped talking and stared at Ikuto as he laid down on her bed casually, as if it were his own. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"To protect you, in case that thing comes for you next," Ikuto said coolly. Amu fidgeted nervously and Ikuto hastened to add, "Not that I think it will. I just don't want to take any chances."

Amu stared at Ikuto for a moment before doing something that startled him. She stepped forward, leaned over, and wrapped her arms around his chest.

"Thank you, Ikuto," she whispered as he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her in return.

In that moment Ikuto wondered if he was going to end up killing her, the one he loved most of all, but then he shook the idea from his head. Even if he were cursed he would do whatever it took to protect Amu…

Even at the cost of his own life.

A/N: I wonder if any of you actually thought Amu was gonna get attacked? Psah. Ikuto would never let that happen… unless he _is_ the killer? Oh, and his OOC, emo-like "I'm killing them all! Oh noes! Dx" was brought on by a dose of Mizue's usual "black cat of misfortune" rants.

Again, please review. It makes me so happy to read your feelings about my story! Oh, and I agree that random Tadase killing is bad, but it had to happen, sorry. I'm sad too :'( But anyway, thanks for reading! :) Oh! And there is a poll on my profile I'd like you to take. Depending on which choice wins, the ending of the story will change so it's very important! Thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

Yaya giggled happily as she flipped the pages of her manga, Pepe dozing quietly on the edge of her bed. It seemed like she didn't notice the other person in her room, a person who looked quite angry. He approached Yaya and quickly swung an arm around towards her. It came closer and closer until…

Kairi snatched the manga out of Yaya's hand, who looked up at him, startled. "Ne, Kairi, what was that for?"

"Why do I have to stay here and watch you read manga?" Kairi inquired as he set the battered book down on her bed. She looked up at him with her usual huge grin.

"In case that thing comes for me! I know Kairi will keep me safe, 'cause he's really brave!" Kairi blushed and glanced to the side, obviously embarrassed by the flattery from his senpai.

"I highly doubt it will come for you next, Yaya-senpai. If anyone, I would think the Joker would be attacked next."

Yaya's eyes went wide. "Oh no! Will Amu-chi be alright?"

"I assume so. Ikuto-san is watching over her at the current moment." Yaya was visibly relieved.

"Oh good," she smiled as she put a hand to her chest. Kairi suddenly realized that Yaya _was _indeed maturing, albeit at a slower pace than most. In retrospect, she was doing quite well in handling the occurances happening lately; Kairi hadn't thought that she had it in her.

"Ne, Kairi, will you go get me the pocky I left in the kitchen?" Yaya asked, suddenly changing the topic, causing Kairi to sigh to himself. Typical Yaya.

"Alright, Yaya-senpai. I'll be right back with it."

Kairi left the room quietly, leaving Yaya to pick up her manga again. She flipped through it, trying to find her page once more, before a sudden gust of wind blew in from the open window. Yaya squealed, scared beyond belief, as she dove underneath her covers.

"Whoa! That scared me!" she said out loud, letting out a nervous chuckle as she stuck her head out from under the blanket and scanned the room. Nothing unusual was there. Just her imagination playing tricks on her.

"Maybe I shouldn't have had Kairi leave after all," she muttered to herself, pausing for a moment before shaking her head. No, it would only take him a minute or two to come back. She could be brave for that long... she thought.

Just as the came to the conclusion that she would be fine, Yaya's door flew wide open. She yelled out in fear, wondering what in the world would spring out at her, and saw… nothing. Even more terrified, Yaya frantically scrambled under the blankets once more before a call of "Onee-chan?" was heard.

Yaya poked her head out from the blankets at the bottom of her bed to see the very short Tsubasa standing there with a cookie in his mouth. Yaya sighed; he was just so short he had missed him when she looked at the door.

"Tsubasa-kun! You scared me!" Yaya crawled out from under the blankets and stepped from the bed, staring down at the short child irritably. She glared a bit as she put her hands on her hips, obviously not amused. Her little brother could be quite the pain. For some reason, she felt as though Kairi would say something along the lines of "brother like sister."

"Now what did you need me for?"

"Onee… Onee-chan…" Tsubasa cut off, his cookie dropping to the floor as his eyes went wide. Yaya stared impatiently down at him.

"What, Tsubasa-kun?"

"Who's that?" the little boy slowly raised a finger to point over his elder sister's shoulder. Yaya's heart began beating a mile a minute as her mind spun. Kairi was down in the kitchen, her parents in the living room. Nobody in the house could be standing behind her, so it must have been someone else. Her mouth went dry. No, it could not be there. The thing that killed Rima's mom, the thing that took Tadase… it could not be there. No, not her. Not when it was supposed to be Amu or Rima next. Not now.

She spun around, and was simply shocked by what she saw. Her eyes widened, her mouth letting out a high shriek before the world went dark. Tsubasa watched as she collapsed against the figure, her body cradled in one of the intruder's arms. He stared at the attacker, terror and wonder evident in his large pupils.

"Sorry kiddo," a cold voice said in a way Tsubasa knew he didn't like. As he began to cry, he wondered why Yaya was sleeping when he needed her so desperately. "You weren't supposed to be here, but it can't be helped."

The intruder suddenly pulled something silver and sharp from beneath his clothes. It was a knife, kind of like what his mom used to cut disgusting vegetables with, although somewhat more scary. The monster held it up in front of the little boy, who noted some weird reddish-brown stuff on it.

"You will not say a word about any of this, or you'll be hurt even worse."

…even worse? But he wasn't-

Without warning, the knife slashed across Tsubasa's chest, the pain immediately igniting his senses, blood gushing from his skin. He screamed loudly, the pain overwhelming him, wanting Yaya to wake up and his dad to come help him. He looked down at the gaping wound that tore his clothes and soaked him in his own blood, and it only caused him to scream louder and more frantically.

The knife met him again, this time cutting his face. Blood dripped into his mouth, the metallic taste unwelcome in comparison of the sweets he always ate. It stung horribly, the blood sliding down into his eyes, coating the world in red.

He hurt so bad. He screamed out, willing the pain to stop, not knowing that it wouldn't help anything whatsoever, not knowing that it probably would just egg the attacker on. Tsubasa felt his body being pushed backwards by two large hands. He fell, his arms windmilling frantically as he tried to catch himself, but finding himself unable to. His head hit the doorknob on the way down, causing a huge gash to form underneath his messy brown hair. Blood poured over his body. He hurt. He hurt so bad. He wanted his mommy and daddy. He wanted Yaya to wake up and save him.

"Not a word, right?" a crazy smirk was on the attacker's face. Tsubasa didn't know how such a nice looking person could ever do something so horrible. Tsubasa sobbed, tears falling into his wounds, stinging him. He nodded frantically, not saying a word.

"Yaya-senpai!" The figure disappeared through the open window with his sister just as Kairi raced in through the open door. He saw the sight in front of him and froze, horrified. He had never seen something so gruesome, so cruel in his entire life. The little boy soaked in blood. His eyes large and full of tears as he wailed in agony. The wounds causing his body to shake horribly as he vomited up blood. Kairi was positively horrified.

Yaya's mother soon followed him into the room, letting out a painful shriek as she raced to her son. She screamed for her husband to call the emergency number as she collapsed by the whimpering boy. Her eyes were wide, tears streaming down her faces as she fumbled to hold back the blood pouring from his gaping wounds.

Suddenly, Kairi remembered.

"Where's Yaya? Where's you sister?" Kairi frantically lunged at the maimed boy, disregarding all etiquette as he desperately attempted to do _anything _that might save his best friend. She had been taken like Tadase had been, Kairi knew it. Yaya's mother shoved him away, trying to keep him from harming her baby even more.

Even more tears poured down the little boy's cheeks, but he couldn't say a word. He instead shook his head and glanced towards the open window before jerking his eyes away, horrified that the monster would come back and attack him again. He coughed once more, blood spilling down his chin. Yaya's mother's tear's intensified.

Wait… The window!

Kairi raced towards the window, sticking his head out into the night air.

"Yaya!" he screamed desperately, not giving any thought to anything besides her safety. But she wasn't out there. The dark sky hung there peacefully, as though everything were fine, the stars twinkling merrily overhead.

But everything wasn't fine, Kairi knew this as he collapsed against the wall, grabbing his head, trying to block out Tsubasa's piercing screams and the sight of his parents trying and failing to save the maimed boy. He had let the killer snatch Yaya right from under his nose, and he had let him attack her brother. Tears sprung up in his eyes.

For the first time in his life Kairi didn't think about logic or manners or anything else. He didn't think about how he had been wrong thinking Amu would have been attacked next. He didn't think about how he had no idea at all anymore about the killer's motive or his attacks. He simply thought about how someone he loved was taken from him.

He was so consumed in his thoughts, he didn't even notice the absence of Yaya's guardian character and it's egg.

(Break.)

Kairi trudged towards his high school silently, an aura of depression blanketing him. He had gotten no sleep the night before. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Tsubasa screaming on the floor, or worse, Yaya being sliced open, her screams and tears echoing into his ears, almost as if she was really being killed. He was so tired and upset and angry at everything that he didn't notice the blue-haired man approach until he spoke up.

"Yo, Kairi," Ikuto said in a casual voice, causing Kairi to look up with almost no interest. "Amu was fine last night; nothing weird happened at all."

Kairi was slightly relieved, but he hadn't honestly thought she would be attacked right after Yaya had been. Then again, what did he know anymore anyway?

Kairi didn't respond. He couldn't. He couldn't say anything without telling them that Yaya had been taken as well, and that made it seem so final, so permanent. It was childish and illogical, he knew, but Kairi kind of felt as if ignoring the fact she was gone would somehow make it so she wasn't.

"Are you alright?" Ikuto asked as he raised an eyebrow and looked at the boy skeptically. Kairi looked up at him with such a look Ikuto knew perfectly, because it was what he felt every time he thought of Tadase.

"No," was all Ikuto managed to mutter. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, a group of second graders laughing as they passed by him. Kairi stopped as well, refusing to meet Ikuto's eyes. Even though he didn't reply, Ikuto knew that his unsaid assumption had been correct.

"Who was it?" he croaked out in a hoarse voice. Kairi lived with his sister's manager; he would know if something had happened to her before his own family could contact him. If Utau was dead Ikuto would have no idea what he would do.

Kairi dropped his gaze to his feet, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. Ikuto grew more impatient and his voice rose. "_Who was it_?"

Kairi finally looked up, his gaze meeting Ikuto's, tears streaming down his cheeks. Ikuto was a bit taken aback. Sure, he didn't know this kid well, but even after hearing about Tadase he had managed to keep it together pretty well.

"Hey, Ikuto! Why'd you run off like that?"

The boys turned around to see Amu and Kukai run towards him, the girl with a slightly angry expression on her face, the boy with a rather indifferent one, but Kairi's face stopped them dead in their tracks.

"No… someone didn't… no!" Amu looked a bit maniac. Her eyes were wide and her face was desperately in a half-smile, as if the whole thing was a joke and Tadase would suddenly jump out from behind the bushes yelling "Surprise!"

"Who was it, Sanjo?" Kukai pressed in a frenzied voice, wanting to know but yet not wanting to at the same time.

Kairi shut his eyes and whispered, "Ya…Yaya-senpai was… was taken… Tsubasa-kun was attacked. He's in critical condition."

Kukai's heart stopped in it's tracks, his school bag dropping to the ground with a loud thump. His two best friends, two of the people he loved most in the world, had been taken from him. He fell to his knees and shook his head. It couldn't be true. No way in hell! But why else would Kairi, the stoic genius, ever cry? It wasn't right!

"N-n-no. She can't be… not her too!" Kukai felt incredibly ill. He wanted to wake up. Oh god, he wanted to wake up so desperately. Why couldn't this just be a dream?

Hearing Amu scream out in pain, her body shaking as she struggled to contain herself, fighting against Ikuto as he tried to contain her, Kukai knew it was all too real… because he could have never imagined pain quite like that.

(Break.)

Nobody knew why they were holding a guardian meeting that day, as none of them had anything to say. Utau didn't show up this time, as she wasn't close to Yaya, and Ikuto was off talking to Nikaido about the whole thing, so the five of them simply sat in near silence. Even the normally lively guardian characters remained silent, not knowing how they could possibly help cheer up their bearers.

"I don't have any idea what's going on anymore," Kairi said when he finally regained the ability to speak. Everyone stared at him, not knowing what he meant.

"I thought these deaths were linked to Mashiro-senpai, but she's still fine. I thought Hinamori-san would be attacked last night, but she was fine. It never even crossed my mind that Yaya-senpai would be taken, probably because I was too emotionally attached to see it."

"Sanjo-kun, that's not your fault. We all have someone we wouldn't ever want to think of getting hurt." Nagihiko's eyes quickly darted to the teary-eyed Rima, before snapping back to the younger boy.

"I wish I could tell what's going on, but it's just so random! There's no correlation between any of it! Mashiro-san, whose death was so nicely cleaned up, versus Tsubasa-kun who was messily attacked and left screaming. And where do Hotori-san and Yaya-senpai fit into any of this? Nothing makes any sense!"

Kairi slumped down, hiding his head under his hands. He had lost everything: his logic, his pride, his loved one.

"Do you think… one of us will be taken tonight?" Rima asked, her voice shaky and scared. Nobody made eye-contact with her, not knowing the answer but having the same suspicion she did. Nagihiko desperately wanted to take her hand, to hold her against his chest as she cried for what she had lost and was likely going to lose, to tell her he wouldn't let her get hurt, but he couldn't. He couldn't fix something when he was falling apart himself. He had been so close to Yaya, the two being the only "girls" in the Guardians for a few years, that it took all his will-power to hold back the tears that threatened to leak out. And Tadase who, before Amu, was his best friend only made things so much worse. If he hadn't have had years of acting experience in order to train for his dancing, he would have been a blubbering mess. Imagining that he was playing the role of his normal self, disregarding his true emotions at this point, was all that kept him together. And he knew that if someone didn't manage to keep himself sane, the group would completely fall apart.

"It wouldn't hurt to be careful, I think," Nagihiko replied after a long pause. He looked at the others, wondering if one of them would be gone the next morning. "We should probably all stay by someone else at all times."

Everyone nodded, knowing that he was probably right. Kairi managed to add on, "And we should lock our doors and windows."

Rima scoffed skeptically. "What good would that do? I'm pretty sure the killer could find another way in."

Kairi shook his head. "True, but last night the killer escaped through the window, or at least I assume that's what Tsubasa-kun meant. If he had had a harder time getting into the house or out of it, then maybe someone would have seen him earlier and at least alerted the others to his presence."

Rima suddenly gasped loudly, causing everyone to jump and turn to face her, terrified that she had seen something. "The killer, he tapped at the window before he broke into my house! What if he was trying to get in through it?"

It made sense, but it still didn't do much good in their attempts to protect themselves or figure out what was going on with the killer.

"So, everyone will lock their windows tonight?" Amu said uncertainly.

"Yes, and we should make sure someone is awake in the room we're in at all times," Kukai added.

It seemed like a good plan, but Kairi didn't know if it would work. Tsubasa had been in the room with Yaya, but he had simply ended up getting attacked and was now on the brink of death.

"So, I'll see you guys tomorrow?" Kukai asked, even though his words should gave been a statement rather than a question. Nobody knew if when they woke up tomorrow someone else would be dead or kidnapped. They could only hope and pray for their safety.

But nobody would expect what they saw the next morning.

A/N: I hope this is better than the last chapter. It was much easier for me to write, although I feel the beginning is kind of lacking. And now I sort of feel like we're slowly drifting away from the rimahiko. -_- But never fear! Next chapter will have some for sure! And if everything goes according to plan, the real fun will start then too. ;)

Thanks so much for your reviews and additions to favorites! I really appreciate you taking the time to do that. And, as always, I would appreciate constructive criticism or even just a review telling me what you liked or your thoughts. Thanks again! :)


	6. Chapter 6

Nagihiko doubled over, grabbing his chest as he struggled to breathe. His hair, loosely tied up on the side of his head, stuck to his forehead, his sticky sweat coating him. The kimono he wore sagged a bit, not fitting him as well as they had in his childhood. Frankly put, Nagihiko's dancing wasn't feminine; he looked like a boy, rather than a girl.

"Nagihiko-kun, your dancing is _very _lacking today," his grandmother glared at him harshly from across the room. Nagihiko frowned a bit as he gasped for breath, holding a stitch in his side.

"I wonder why, seeing as two of my friends were kidnapped and Rima's mom was murdered right in front of my eyes," Nagihiko muttered under his breath, so that his old grandmother couldn't hear his snarky reply. Of course he had to maintain his polite facade for her, but it was getting quite difficult considering the current occurrences.

"You are severely lacking femininity today. I have never seen you dance so much like a man," she continued harshly, looking down at him with disdain.

"Huh, that's weird, considering I'm a guy and all," Nagihiko muttered, glaring down at his grandmother's feet before pulling up with a weak smile on his face.

"Sorry, grandmother. I'll work harder to dance with more femininity. My mind's just occupied with other things at the current moment."

His grandmother snorted. "Like that matters. Stop making excuses you ignorant child."

Nagihiko's mom hesitantly reached a hand out to touch her mother-in-law's shoulder. She whispered so that her son couldn't hear, "Mother, you shouldn't be so harsh on him right now. I told you he witnessed the death of his special one's mother, and his friend's were killed."

Nagihiko pulled on his hairband, tightening the hold on his long indigo locks. Glancing at the mirror in the room, he felt vaguely odd. For some reason, he didn't feel like he was looking at Nadeshiko anymore. All he could see was Nagihiko.

"May I be excused to prepare for school, grandmother?" Nagihiko asked before she could retort to his mother's remark. She glared at him, before nodding her head in the slightest.

"Fine. Be more prepared when you come home this afternoon."

Nagihiko didn't know if that would be possible, considering if someone else had been taken the night before.

(Break.)

Nagihiko and Rima walked swiftly into the Guardian clubroom before class started, horrified as to what they might find, half expecting Amu to be missing as they stepped inside.

The group inside was incredibly tense, worried about their missing friends. When Rima and Nagihiko entered, though, they all visibly relaxed.

"Oh thank god!" Utau, who Kukai had taken it upon himself to stick with, for both of their protection, exclaimed in relief. She sighed happily.

"That's everyone then!" Kukai was ecstatic. In the past two days, none of them had smiled so earnestly.

Ikuto, who was perched on the window sail, one arm draped over the back of Amu's chair protectively, leaned back with a slight smile of his own. He hadn't brought death onto more people yet.

Nikaido, concerned for the kids' well-being as well, or maybe just bored, sat down his newspaper headlined "Another teenage girl kidnapped," and leaned up against the president's desk. "Well, I am incredibly relieved. Maybe whatever was attacking you guys got what it wanted and is done with you"

"What it wanted?" Amu asked, tilting her head curiously.

"Well, does anyone ever do anything without a motive? He would have had to have a reason for what he was doing, revenge I assume, taking into account his note. Maybe he already got what he wanted."

"So, he wanted revenge against Hotori or Yaya?" Kukai asked, grimacing a bit as he said his best friends' names. Kairi frowned.

"But then why would he have gone after Mashiro-san at the beginning?" he asked doubtfully. He was still a bit reluctant to trust himself though, after the loss he had experienced the day before.

"Maybe he wanted revenge against someone who was close to the three, and wanted to hurt him or her as much as possible." Nagihiko suggested, though not really believing it entirely himself.

"But who would they want revenge against?" Utau questioned. Amu bit her lip as she thought about it.

"Well, Kukai is close to Yaya and Tadase-kun, but not Rima so much. Ikuto and Utau are close to Tadase-kun, but not the other two. Kairi is close to Yaya but isn't really that close to Tadase-kun or Rima. Rima, although a target herself, is close to Yaya but not so much Tadase-kun." Amu stopped talking suddenly, as a slightly sick expression grew on her face. Ikuto looked down at her, worried, but not understanding what had cause her to break off. Nagihiko did, though.

"So, that leaves you and I. We're both pretty close to all three of them," Nagihiko said quietly.

Rima shook her head harshly, not knowing why the thought that Nagihiko may be inflicted with pain made her feel like throwing up. "But you haven't been all that close to Yaya for a few years. If they really wanted to hurt you they'd have gone after Amu. And if they had really wanted to hurt Amu, they would have gone after Ikuto."

Amy blushed as Ikuto gave her a suggestive look, and Nagihiko glanced over at Rima gratefully. Yeah, she was right. If they really wanted to hurt him they'd have killed Amu and made sure to have finished Rima off. But wait…

"Why didn't they come back for you?" Nagihiko asked her, startling the short blonde. "They didn't attack last night, so why didn't they finish you off?"

An awkward silence filled the room, and Nagihiko hastened to add "Not that I'm not incredibly grateful that you're safe…"

"This is so damn confusing!" Amu sighed as she dropped her head to her desk, letting out a moan of confusion.

"I must agree with you. Although I have many theories about what is going on, none of them are logical in the slightest," Kairi looked quite disappointed in himself.

"Maybe logic won't work now," Ikuto muttered quietly, more to himself than to the others, although they all looked at him questioningly. He stepped down from the window ledge and sat down in a chair between Amu and his sister.

"What do you mean?" Nikaido asked.

"Well, if things like guardian characters exist, what's to say that ghosts and curses don't as well? Maybe there's something supernatural going on right now," Ikuto looked somewhat reluctant, as though he wasn't even sure if he believed what he was saying.

Amu blew her bangs out of her eyes. "That would sure explain the corpse-like body."

Rima scowled a bit, and Utau shot her a questioning look. Rima shook her head at her and looked away.

"So are we dealing with zombies you think?" Kukai asked only somewhat jokingly. Kairi frowned at him and shook his head.

"I refuse to believe such a preposterous notation," he said stubbornly, not wanting to think of the consequences for such an idea.

Rima's frown deepened, as she glanced over at the open widow. Since the guardian clubroom was on the ground floor, all she could see was a big tree and some flowers swaying in the wind.

"Oh lighten up dude! It makes sense, doesn't it?"

"I highly doubt-"

"Nagihiko, do you hear that?" Rima leaned over an whispered into Nagihiko's ear, tickling the edge of it with her lips. His face turned a bit red at the pleasurable touch, before remembering where they were and what was going on. He turned and looked at Rima inquisitively as his two friends bickered pointlessly.

"Hear what?"

"A tapping from the window," Rima whispered into his ear once more. Suddenly, Nagihiko's heart stopped. The window. Tapping at the window. It suddenly resonated in his mind. Window equals killer.

Ikuto was nearest the window, but he wasn't tapping it. But the tapping…

_He could hear it._

"Ye-yes, I can."

Rima looked him dead in the eyes, his own fear mirrored in her golden irises. They were going to die. Neither knew what to do at first, before Nagihiko realized that he must warn the others.

"You guys," he said in a low, shaky voice.

"Zombies are too plausible! Besides, how else would they be missing-"

"You guys!" Nagihiko snapped harshly, causing everyone to jump and then turn to him with wide eyes.

"Listen," he whispered in an urgent manner. An eerie silence filled the room before a faint "tap tap tap" was heard from behind Ikuto. They turned slowly, not knowing what they would find there, horrified that they'd see the face of the killer peering in at them.

There was no face, but simply a single pale hand tapping at the glass, it's arm extending down below the pane.

Everyone immediately stood up slowly, as though fast movements would cause the killer to strike. Somehow Rima's hand ended up in Nagihiko's, both sweaty and clammy from fear.

Desperate not to make any noise, the group slowly began to back up, trying to make their way to the door without alerting the killer to the fact they were making an escape. Nikaido's fingers fumbled with the handle of the door as he blindly tried to open it while watching the window.

After an agonizingly long moment he managed to slide it open, securing their chance of escape…

Until Amu, ever the klutz, tripped on one of the chairs protruding from underneath the table and fell backwards, knocking Kairi down with an enormous crash.

Without a moment's hesitation the head of the killer shot up from outside the window. Surprisingly, it looked different then last time. The hollowed-out eyes were filled in with milky white ones, and the stringy black hair had somehow changed to a dark shade of brown. On a slightly comforting note, there was no blood dripping down it's face this time either. But yet they knew by the crazed expression it wore that it was indeed the killer.

Everyone froze, starring at it intently for a moment, scared to do anything else. Amu fidgeted from where she lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, and Kairi struggled to bring himself to his feet. Kukai slipped on Nikaido's fallen newspaper and had to steady himself on the desk, glaring down at the headline before looking up with wide eyes. He started to say something but was cut off as the killer leaped through the glass, shards scratching her body and cutting her skirt. Nagihiko barely had time to note that the killer was actually female and that the scratches on her body didn't draw any blood before the others around him made a frantic beeline towards the door.

Nagihiko pulled Rima after him, knowing the short girl could not run very fast on her own. Amu and Kairi scrambled to their feet quickly, and raced towards the door as well. Ikuto followed the others out, glancing back quickly as he exited the room to see that the killer was running after them as well. Somehow he knew this was not going to end well.

The group ran down the hall quickly, thankful that not that many students were yet in the school so that they weren't in the way… or killed, Kairi thought, thinking back on Tsubasa's accident.

"We should split up! It can't go two ways at once!" Ikuto suggested as they ran, his yells barely understandable through his heavy pants.

"Half of us will go down the East corridor, half down the West! Whoever isn't chased will contact the police, whoever is… just run for it!" Nikaido ordered frantically, not even attempting to keep his cool at such a time. The others nodded as they ran.

After thirty or so seconds they came to the intersection, and Utau, Kukai, Nagihiko, and Rima ran down the Eastern hallway while the others took off down the Western one.

Nagihiko briefly wondered if he would ever see Amu and the others again.

The group raced down the hallway, passing the empty classrooms without a second glance, knowing hiding would just mean they were cornered. They had to escape the school before they could even consider hiding.

Kukai chanced a glance back and his eyes widened.

"Shit!" he yelled as he turned back to face the front and sped up with a sudden burst of speed, "It's following us!"

Nagihiko didn't want to look back to confirm this, so he decided to take Kukai's word for it. He glanced over at Rima, who was barely managing to keep up without her arm being torn off, and knew she wouldn't last long. He had to find somewhere to hide her….

Utau pushed open the doors at the end of the hallway they had ran down and the group flew out into the school grounds. The sunlight temporarily blinded them, the dazzling gleam it had was much too bright to be the backdrop for a crazed murderer chasing them.

Immediately the group raced off down the narrow stone, path, trying to find a way to work their way around to the front of the building.

"We should split up again!" Utau yelled as the group ran, her arms pumping wildly as she panted.

"Yeah," Nagihiko agreed with her, somehow knowing that the killer only wanted one of them specifically, and that if the others left that person alone then they would be fine.

Kukai and Utau took off to the left while Nagihiko pulled Rima towards the right. They plunged into the foliage surrounding the school, trampling over bushes and weeds as they weaved their way around the many trees that created something akin to a small forest.

Rima's foot caught on a root half above the ground, and she gasped as she flew down into dirt, her hand separating from Nagihiko's as her arms flew up to protect her face.

Nagihiko scrambled back to her, trying to see whether or not the killer was chasing them, but not being able to see her. Maybe they had gone after Kukai and Utau! Nagihiko was sickened with himself for being pleased, even if only for a second, that his friend's were being followed.

"Rima, stand up!" Nagihiko urged in a frantic whisper, as he grabbed one of her arms and pulled her harshly to her feet. She stood there for a moment, panting heavily, and Nagihiko realized that the girl had reached her body's limit; she could not go on. He groaned to himself. Great, just what he needed.

"Don't get mad, but this is for your own good," Nagihiko said, causing Rima to look up at him quickly, before he grabbed her body and hoisted it over his shoulder. Rima didn't even have time to protest (not that she wanted to) before he took off into the brush once more.

It was rather intense, racing through a patch of woods on a boy's shoulder. The world was a big blur to Rima, and her beautiful long hair caught on tree limbs and sticks, leaves being tangled into her blonde waves.

After a minute or so, Nagihiko stopped and ducked behind a tree, slipping Rima down from his shoulders before he pulled her down to the ground. He sat back against the tree trunk, his legs bent and spread apart so that Rima was kneeling between them.

"We'll wait here for a moment… I don't think the killer is following us," Nagihiko explained between the deep breaths he took. Rima shivered unconsciously.

"I'm so scared, Nagihiko," Rima whispered, her eyes filled with tears yet to fall. At this point though, it wasn't her worst enemy seeing her at her weakest hour, it was her closest friend being there in her time of need. Nagihiko was suddenly very glad he had been able to stay strong all this time.

"It's all right, Rima-chan," Nagihiko said in a comforting voice, as he wrapped his arms around her chest and pulled her into a hug. Her lip trembled for a moment, before she worked up the courage to ask a question.

"Do you think we're going to die too?" Rima asked him, not sure if she wanted to know the answer. Nagihiko took a deep breath.

_Yes_, he wanted to say. Yes, he thought they were going to die. But he wouldn't tell her that, it would only make the situation worse.

Nagihiko pulled back and grabbed her face between his two hands gently, starring up into her eyes. "I'm not sure, but I want you to know that I'll protect you no matter what the cost is."

Rima's breath hitched, as she stared down at him, a sudden realization hitting her right then and there. He really did care about her. And she… she supposed she cared about him too.

Rima moved her hands so that they were on his chest and grabbed his black jacket tentatively, as though not fully knowing what she was doing. She wanted to thank him for being there for her, or maybe tell him that he was more important to her then anyone else in the world, but the words wouldn't form on her lips, and all she could do was gaze into his deep brown eyes.

She opened her mouth to say something, to say that she was glad that Nagihiko was alive, glad that he hadn't been killed yet, how much she hoped he would live through this whole ordeal, but found herself unable to. She just couldn't bring herself to say it, she was so afraid of _something._

She just wanted him to know how she felt... why couldn't she even do that much?

"Rima! Nagihiko!"

Amu's voice caused the two to spring away from each other and in turn leap to their feet. Amu was several yards away, flailing about as she tripped over roots and branches, with Ikuto nervously trying to steady her. Kairi watched disinterestedly, and Nikaido looked as though he were trying hard not to trip himself. Rima's cheeks were incredibly red, wondering what exactly got into her. She was very grateful that she had been stopped before she had said or done sometime incredibly stupid.

After Amu managed to make it over a particularly large mound of dirt she threw herself at her two best friends, pulling them both into a hug. "I'm so happy you're safe!"

She pulled back after a moment and grinned, a few tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Where's Utau?" Ikuto cut in quickly, his voice quite frantic for a normally rather stoic person.

"We split up a while back because the killer was chasing us," Nagihiko explained, causing Ikuto's face to blanch.

"You mean it's out there right now… chasing her?"

Nagihiko hadn't really thought of that, he was just so relieved Rima and himself were safe. He nodded slowly, realizing what was about to happen.

And suddenly Utau's scream pierced the air. Everyone froze, struck with horror at what might have happened. Utau never gave in to fear, never screamed like a terrified little girl. Ikuto's heart thundered in his chest as he yelled out desperately, "Utau!"

Without another word he took off into the trees, running to save someone who could very well already be dead.

A/N: Do you feel like this chapter was rushed? I always end up doing that; I don't put enough details into things and then it ends up confusing or whatnot. Ugh, I probably should rewrite it, but I don't feel like doing that unless anyone really thinks I should.  
>Again, thanks so much for your reviews! I really like knowing what I can improve on, so if you have a moment please review! Thank you! :)<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

Utau's muscles ached as she ran, trying to ignore the feeling that she would soon collapse. She didn't know if the killer was chasing her or if she was chasing Nagihiko and Rima, but she didn't care. She was going to keep running until her legs gave out from beneath her.

She glanced over at Kukai and saw he was looking incredibly beat as well. If something happened to him….

Utau shook the thought of the killer from her mind; scaring herself shitless wouldn't do any good at all. She was just racing Kukai. It was just another competition. And besides, Utau honestly didn't think the killer would chase after them. It still had to complete it's mission of getting Rima first, right?

Utau wanted to ask Kukai where they should go, but she could barely run much less talk. She just settled for following him run off to the left.

The small path they had been following broke off into a large empty field, the school off in the distance. If they ran that way the could circle around to the front of the building and run somewhere else, perhaps the police station. If they just could make it to the front of the school….

Utau glanced back nervously as she ran, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. Maybe the killer _had_ chased after the other two!

Upon reaching the school the two ran along the side of it, Kukai reaching the corner and rounding it a few yards ahead of Utau. She turned the corner as well, hurrying now as they were so close to safety, but stopped abruptly, trying not to smash into the halted Kukai.

"You moron! What are you stopping for?" Utau barked at him harshly, staring at the back of his head. Upon receiving no reply she moved to step around him, but he shot out an arm and restrained her. She was about to question his actions when she noticed his fear filled face. And suddenly she knew.

She peeked over Kukai's shoulder, horrified as to what she may see. Her suspicion was confirmed: the killer was standing several feet away, a newly acquired baseball bat held between her hands.

Utau froze, fear temporarily controlling her mind, before she snapped back to reality. They could turn around and run. If they hurried they could get away, run around the school in the other direction, and still escape.

But they were thoroughly exhausted, and the killer seemed to be just fine, smirking as she bounced the baseball bat in the palm of her hand. Could they really escape like this?

"Well hello there, Souma-kun," the killer said in a rather smug voice. She grinned at the two in front of her, "You have a very nice girlfriend, don't you?"

Kukai tensed up incredibly, shifting slightly so that Utau was even more obscured by his figure. "What do you want with us?"

"Like my message said, I want to hurt you all," the figure replied, swinging the bat playfully before holding it within her arms again.

"But you're not the one who went after us the first time…" Kukai muttered, looking over the girl closely. Besides from earlier that day, he had never seen her before. How could he have abandoned, or _ forsaken,_ someone he didn't even know?

"Ah, but I was. In spirit, but not body." Neither Kukai nor Utau had any idea what the hell that was supposed to mean.

"This is the incompetence that will get you killed," the killer said with a sigh at seeing the baffled teenagers' faces. Kukai froze, his mind reeling. Of course part of it said to run as fast as he could to get away, but another part was frozen in fear, knowing he couldn't get far on his strength alone.

"Now Souma-kun, you have two options. One, you run off with your little girlfriend and I chase after you, eventually killing both of you and maybe even your other friends, or two, you come with me willingly and I spare her life. What will it be?"

Kukai was horrified. On one hand there was a chance that they could both get away, but if they didn't he knew the woman would kill Utau for sure. But if he could be taken and Utau would be left safe, then maybe it was worth it.

"No! Kukai don't! It's not worth it! I couldn't live knowing I caused you to die!" Utau was frantic, her eyes wide as she grabbed on to Kukai's shoulder from behind. She shook him roughly, tears springing up into her eyes already knowing his decision.

"I couldn't live with myself if I let you get hurt," Kukai said solemnly. Rage bubbled up beneath Utau's fear. How selfish! He wanted her to live hating herself just so he wouldn't feel guilty?

She would protect him, no matter why the cost.

"I won't let you take him," Utau said confidently as she stepped out from behind Kukai and glared at the killer, who smirked right back at her.

"So be it."

The killer lunged forwards, the baseball bat swinging around with an insane amount of momentum. Utau let out a loud and terrified scream as the bat approached her, squeezing her eyes together tight as her arms flew up to cover her face.

A loud crack echoed across the school grounds as the wooden bat met the hard bone of a skull.

(Break.)

Ikuto raced through along the small path his sister had earlier taken, ignoring the screams of those behind him urging him to stop, warning him that he could be attacked as well. He didn't give them any regard. All he could think about was his sister. If she died now… no, she wouldn't die now. Ikuto wouldn't let that happen, and he was pretty sure Kukai would do whatever it took to keep that from happening as well.

He ran rapidly, the others all racing behind him frantically, trying to stop him before he got hurt as well. But he didn't care. He had let Tadase get hurt, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let Utau get hurt as well.

He came to the open field and scanned the surroundings. If he were being chased where would he go? Probably to the front of the school, he supposed, so that he could escape.

He ran in that direction, Nikaido yelling at him desperately, trying to convince him to return to safety, "Stop! Do you want to be hurt as well? You have no idea what you might see!"

But he, the black cat of misfortune, was causing this. It was his fault entirely… didn't he deserve to be hurt as well? Didn't he deserve to to witness the horror firsthand?

He raced towards the front of the school, scared as to what he might find, but scared to leave things to be by themselves as well. He turned the corner and stopped dead in his tracks, horror enveloping him in such a way he had never known.

There his sister sat, in the middle if the yard, tears flowing down her face, and blood splattered on her shirt.

"Utau!" he screamed, racing towards her with such ferocity he had never before exhibited. Utau looked up weakly as he approached, sobbing heavily to herself.

Ikuto collapsed besides his younger sister, pulling her into a tight hug. She sobbed, the blood staining her pale blue shirt soaking into Ikuto's own clothes.

The others all ran up to the two as well scanning the surroundings with such horror they hadn't before experience. There was a discarded baseball bat laying several yards in a small puddle of red but besides that absolute normality…

It looking so normal was somehow what scared them the most.

"Where's Kukai?" Amu asked hurriedly, worried about the older boy. Utau swallowed back her tears as Ikuto pulled back for her to speak.

"We ran into the killer at the front of the school… I guess she didn't chase us outside after all…. she said some stuff to us and offered Kukai to choose to run or give himself up and in exchange she'd spare my life…" Utau broke off, tears leaking from her eyes as she struggled to contain herself. After a painfully long moment she continued.

"I didn't want him to do that for me, so I guess I sort of challenged her inadvertently or something and she sprung at me with a baseball bat, set to kill I suppose, but… I… the next thing I knew Kukai was on the ground, blood pouring from his head. He… he dove in front of me to sa… save my life. I freaked out. I went to check if he was okay and he was still breathing but …I was so scared! The killer, she grabbed his body from beneath my hands and I tried to stop her but for some reason I just couldn't move! I tried to stop her but she just punched me in the face… and then he was gone."

It was a good thing the retelling ended there, because Utau seemed as though she wouldn't be able to say another word about the ordeal for a long time. Ikuto gently stroked her hair as he examined her face.

"I think she may have broken Utau's nose," he noted dully, noticing that some of the blood on her had come from said appendage. But the rest he could only assume had come from Kukai.

Kukai… unless he got medical attention immediately, he would surely die. But then again, taken by the killer was practically a guaranteed death.

Ikuto had never really cared one way or another for the boyish teenager, but now, in his final moments of life, Ikuto respected him and appreciated what he did. He had given up his life to save someone he truly loved, and if someone had to go, he thought that would be the best way to do it.

(Break.)

Everyone sat around the table in Nagihiko's house, having left school before it even started, the police having told them that they would do "whatever in their power," but that they were very busy with the kidnappings of the teenage girls that they probably could not do much.

The guardians could barely process what had happened. Utau kept sobbing to herself, Ikuto's attempted comfort not helping at all. Amu cried quietly, trying to restrain herself for Utau's sake. But she had lost someone akin to a brother, and although she wasn't hurting as badly as Utau was, she was still in a lot of pain.

Nagihiko was just starring off into space with a blank look on his face, doing everything in his power to prevent himself from cracking, from breaking down into tears and wails. Kukai was very close to him as well; they had known each other for years, and Kukai had even been in on his cross-dressing secret when it was still a secret.

"I didn't want to leave my house earlier today, but now I don't have the faintest idea how to remain safe," Amu stopped crying long enough to say this, and wiped her eyes off with her sleeve.

"Being without someone obviously didn't help. Being with someone didn't help, on the contrary it just put them in danger too. Staying home is dangerous, going out is dangerous…" Kairi cut himself of before he could say that the whole situation was futile, but he was pretty sure everyone else already knew that fact.

"We are going to die. We are all going to die," Rima said in a rather emotionless voice, staring straight ahead at some spot on the wall. She was the first one who dared to say it, but everyone somehow knew it was true. Four days ago they didn't have a care in the world, but now they woke up everyday to another death.

"Don't say that, we could live," Nagihiko said quite weakly, but not sounding like he quite meant it. Rima turned to glare at him.

"Oh stop denying it. We're all screwed. The killer can get into anywhere and kill us with ease. If it keeps up at this rate we'll all be gone in less than a week." Amu gasped as he heard this, subconsciously knowing it to be true but not wanting to hear it said. Everyone fidgeted uneasily, not knowing what to say or do.

"You don't have to have such a negative outlook on things," Nagihiko muttered uncomfortably. He knew that if he wanted to keep everyone sane this kind of talk wouldn't do any good whatsoever.

Rima jumped to her feet, rage livid in her face. "Well what about you? I think it's better to face the dismal reality than be perfectly fine when three of your best friends are murdered! You don't even give a damn that people you've been friends with for almost ten years are being killed off right in front of your eyes!"

"You think I don't care?" Nagihiko jumped to his feet as well, his usually calm and peaceful voice now unsteady with anger. "You think that this isn't killing me as well?"

"You sure as hell don't seem like it! Even Kairi showed some fucking emotion!" Rima screamed at him, her body shaking with anger. Everyone else in the room shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to leave but definitely not wanting to stay as well.

"If I showed any emotion at all at this point I'd break down too, and in case you didn't notice it before now I'm the only one in this room keeping himself together at all!" Nagihiko spat at the short girl, looming down at her with a fierce look on his face. "Since Tadase died Ikuto's been a complete mess, Amu's been uneasy since the very beginning, Yaya dying caused Kairi to lose it completely, Kukai being taken made Utau break down, and you've been crying your fucking eyes out every night since your mother died!"

Rima stepped back uncertainly, knowing she had somehow, inadvertently crossed a line, but being unable to stop Nagihiko now.

"If I don't keep my head on straight who else is going too?" Nagihiko said harshly. He paused for a moment and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before he continued in a slightly calmer voice.

"You think it didn't kill me seeing the people I've loved since the very beginning being murdered? It's taken everything I've got to get up everyday or do anything like normal. But I knew I had to be there for you. You, who was attacked first, who's mother was killed right in front of you. You think I haven't been seeing her being murdered every time I close my eyes? You think I haven't spent every night tossing and turning imagining the same thing happening to you?"

Before he knew it his calm facade had completely disintegrated, and tears were falling from his eyes. His body shook not from rage, but from sadness and fear.

"Everyday I wake up scared that I'll look over and you'll be gone. And as more people keep dying the only thing I can do to comfort you is to keep myself sane, so that I can be there for you like you need someone to be."

Nagihiko stopped talking as a uniform gasp was heard throughout the room. Rima had done something no one had ever expected her to; she had pulled Nagihiko into a tight hug, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck. He nervously wrapped his own arms around her torso, not quite sure what had brought this sudden change in her attitude on, but quite liking it.

"I'm sorry," she said in a quiet voice, not quite sure of what she was saying, "I didn't know what you were going through."

"That was kind of the point," Nagihiko muttered somewhat awkwardly, mad at himself for letting her know the truth, but thinking it was maybe better this way.

"Oh my! You two ended your lovers' spat already?" Nagihiko and Rima shot apart to see his mother standing in the doorway with a rather pleased look on her face. "This is great! I may be getting grandchildren sooner than I thought!"

Nagihiko's face turned bright red while Rima's expression turned to one of complete disbelief.

Nagihiko's mother was pushed to the side as a very cranky old woman walked into the room. She glared at her grandson irritably, her arms crossed over her chest. "You didn't heed my warning, foolish boy."

Nagihiko was baffled for a moment. What warning? Everyone else looked as confused as he was, until suddenly it hit him. Oh! About forgetting the past!

"I think if you could remind me of what I have forgotten then it would be easier for me to be cautious of it," Nagihiko said meekly, drawing looks that plainly said "what the hell is that supposed to mean" from everyone in the room besides his grandmother, who frowned at him.

"It would be no good. As it is, you have already jeopardized so much due to your insolence; if you don't think back on it immediately everyone will be hurt by your foolishness."

"Wait, so you're saying this whole thing is Fujisaki-san's fault? Why do you believe that?" Kairi was thoroughly baffled. If anyone was to blame, he would have though it would have been Rima or maybe even Amu.

"It is not entirely his fault. Others are to blame as well." Nagihiko's grandmother's eyes shot around the room, glaring accusingly at every person present. Ikuto gulped, feeling as if she knew his curse was hurting them all.

"Wait, then you know what's going on? Couldn't you tell us?" Amu jumped up excitedly, hopeful that the death could be ended quickly, but Nagihiko's grandmother shook her head.

"No, I do not know what's going on." Amu sighed dejectedly, her body going kind of limp.

Nagihiko was thoroughly confused at this. "Then how can you-"

She walked out from the room without another word, leaving everyone starring at her back in confusion.

"What the hell did that mean?" Rima stared at the doorway incredulously, "Senile old bat."

"Hm, that was rather odd, huh?" Nagihiko's mom rested her cheek on the palm of her hand as she pondered her mother-in-law's words.

"So, this thing is Nagi's fault or one of ours?" Amu asked, obviously quite confused. Ikuto shrugged.

"Who knows? I don't think we can completely believe anything that she said though," he responded, obviously finding her random beliefs without any proof rather preposterous. Nagihiko's mom nodded.

"She is rather old," she said with a slight smile.

Somehow Nagihiko had the feeling that his grandmother knew more than he was letting on, and that she was entirely correct that the whole thing was his fault. But what had he forgotten? Try as hard as he might, he could not think of even a slight hint as to what he had forgotten.

"Anyways, I'll leave you kids here for now. And Nagi-chan," his mother turned to him with a serious expression on her face, "If you and Rima do decide to cave in to your raging hormones then you are at a higher risk of being attacked; keep in mind to keep your eyes open while boning her."

She left the room, ignoring the disgusted look on Rima's face, and the embarrassed yet slightly intrigued expression on Nagihiko's.

"I like your mom," Ikuto said simply, causing Amu to give him a slightly disbelieving look.

(Break.)

Nobody left Nagihiko's house until the end of the day, before dark had come but after the sun had begun to go down. They left in pairs as well, Ikuto sticking to Amu like glue, and Utau and Kairi deciding to stay at his sister's place, not knowing if it would be better or worse to stay together, but finding some sort of comfort in the others presence. When they said goodbye to one another they did so with hugs and tears, not knowing if they would ever see each others faces again.

Wishing that tomorrow they would wake up and, like a badly written movie, it would all be a dream.

A/N: Haha, I made Nagi break down. xD Oh, and that vaguely rimahiko scene came to be after a suggestion from Hazey Rine. It wasn't exactly like what she came up with (or maybe not even relatively close), but I figured Rima would probably be yelling rather than speaking calmly at this time, and for plot reasons I can't have _too _much rimahiko development at this point.  
>On a side note, we're about halfway done with the story! Thank you so much for sticking with it this far. And, if you have a moment, please review. :)<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

Nagihiko groaned and sat up from the warm sheets of his bed, rubbing his head tiredly. Glancing around the room he noticed that it was still the middle of the night, seeing as how the room was filled with darkness. He quickly glanced over at Rima's cot and was relieved to see her lying there, her blonde hair fanning out over the mattress and her sleeping body. He breathed a sigh of relief; she was still alive.

But wait… why was there red all over the sheets of her bed?

Nagihiko stumbled over to her cot, praying that what he saw was a trick of the light or simply just his imagination.

Nagihiko shook Rima's shoulder. Her body rocked back and forth under his touch but otherwise remained immobile. That didn't mean anything; Rima could just be a heavy sleeper or something.

He shook her harder, the mattress squeaking under his touch. Her body shook back and forth roughly, her head being jerked around on her neck. No, no. She was just sleeping very hard!

Why the fuck wouldn't she wake up?

Suddenly her body fell onto it's back and Nagi let out a scream. Rima's face was blank, her eyes starting ahead with an empty expression. Blood was splattered across her porcelain skin, flowing from her closed lips like a river, the white sheet covering her soaked from the red that had left her body.

"Rima!" Nagihiko yelled frantically, string down at dead girl in what could only be described as horror. He pressed his fingers against the vein in her throat but could feel no pulse. "No!"

"Why?"

Rima's lips didn't move yet was able to vocalize this word. But she was dead. How could she speak?

Nagihiko stumbled backwards, his eyes growing wide as he starred at the corpse in front of him in horror. Rima's body simply starred up at the ceiling, the same vacant expression on her face, her lips still pressed together emotionlessly.

"Why?"

This time the sound didn't come from Rima, but simply echoed through Nagihiko's ears. He stumbled backwards frantically, watching the blood soaking his friend drip to the floor, splattering as it fell into a small puddle.

Nagihiko was horrified. How much blood could come from one body? His legs shook as he stepped backwards, hearing a sickening crunch from underneath his left foot.

He slowly lowered his eyes to the ground, gazing down at shards of several eggs for a moment before gasping out slowly. Temari… Rhythm…

"Why?"

Nagihiko turned and ran, throwing open the door to his room in a frenzy to get away, to get help for Rima, to stop the voice echoing through his head.

He ran down the hallway, feeling as though it was several times too long. The wooden floor creaked loudly under his feet, filling his ears until he had thrown open the door at the end of the hall, leading into the entryway.

Standing there was none other than Tadase. Nagihiko couldn't help but stare. The good-natured boy was wearing anything but his normal look. Blood covered a gaping wound in his chest, soaked his blonde hair. His eyes looked up at Nagihiko, lifeless. He slowly raised a hand up in front of him, as though reaching out to Nagihiko, and gave him a blank look.

"Why?"

Nagihiko yelled out and slammed the door on Tadase before turning and running down the hallway to his left frantically. He would take the back way out.

He pumped his arms wildly as he ran, glancing back over his shoulder occasionally to make sure he wasn't being pursued by his oldest friend.

Turning down yet another hallway, Nagihiko was surprised to feel something wet against his bare feet. He stopped momentarily and looked down, a foul feeling growing in his stomach as he realized he was walking through blood.

He glanced over to his right briefly and gasped as he saw Yaya lying against the wall, her expression no longer one of childlike innocence but rather one of a soldier who had experienced the mass destruction of war first-hand. She simply looked up at him, somewhat angrily, somewhere scared.

"Why?"

Nagihiko kept running, Yaya's blood splashing up against him as he raced to get away from the horror she had become. His breath came out shakily, his heart thundering loudly in his ears.

Something caught on his foot, and Nagihiko stumbled as he tried to balance himself, but fell to the ground anyway. He flipped himself over to see Kukai, with blood-soaked hair, lying on his stomach grabbing onto Nagihiko's leg.

"Why?"

Kukai began pulling his leg, dragging Nagihiko to him with an almost pleading expression. Nagihiko grunted and kicked Kukai straight in the face, causing him to release his grip on him immediately. Nagihiko scrambled backwards frantically as Kukai let out a sharp cry and raised his hands to his face, crying red tears.

Nagihiko turned and ran, not knowing where he was going or what he would see next, but just wanting to get away from his friends and the voice asking him…

"Why?"

Nagihiko threw open a door at random, not quite knowing where it would lead, but not caring whatsoever.

He ran into a dark room. He couldn't tell where he was, as he was surrounded on all sides by darkness.

"Why did you do this?"

"I didn't do anything!" Nagihiko screamed frantically, racing forward, his hands covering his ears as he tried in vain to block out the voice.

Suddenly Nagihiko stopped, staring at his own reflection with a look of surprise on that was not mirrored back at him.

He stared at the other Nagihiko's glum expression, reaching out rather reluctantly to touch what should surely be cool glass.

His hand passed through his others body, fumbling through the air for a few seconds before he withdrew it back into his chest.

"Why did you forget?"

His other self stared at him with something like disgust. Nagihiko just stared back at himself, terrified.

"Forget what?" he asked, trying hard to reach the deep recesses of his brain, but failing to do so.

"YOU KNOW!"

The voice screamed at him, his others face suddenly morphing into his grandmother's. She leaped forward at him, much to agile to be an old woman, causing him to jerk backwards to escape.

"You must remember, or they are all dead!"

Nagihiko glanced down, and saw that he was standing in yet another puddle of blood. His breath hitched as he looked up, scared to see whom it belonged to.

Around him lay all his friends, everyone he had ever loved. Tadase, Kukai, Yaya, Rima, Amu, Kairi, Ikuto, Utau, his mother, Baaya-san, Rikka, Hikaru, his father, too many people to count, surrounding him from all sides. He spun wildly, trying desperately to find a way to escape from the death that was consuming him. Lying at the front of everyone was his grandmother, looking quite powerless as she lay in an ocean of blood and flesh.

"You must remember your past."

Nagihiko coughed into his hand and grimaced down at the blood splattered on his palm. He grabbed his suddenly aching side and was surprised to feel the wetness of an open wound.

He fell to his knees weakly, trying not to become just another one of the bodies. Trying not to just become forgotten, abandoned…

Forsaken...

Nagihiko jerked upright, screaming loudly. His body spun wildly as he flailed about for a moment before falling to the ground with a loud crash. He kept screaming, trying frantically to forget the images of his friends being killed and him ruthlessly abandoning them for his own safety.

"…hiko!"

"Na…"

"Nagihiko!"

A sudden shaking coursed through Nagihiko's body, and his eyes flew open to see Amu above him, shaking his shoulders roughly. When he silenced his screams and stopped rolling about on the floor her panicked expression slackened into one of relief.

"Oh thank god you're okay! You were having a fit and we thought something horrible happened to you!"

Nagihiko glanced around the room, noting that he was surrounded by a sea of desks and apprehensive looking teenagers. What was…

Oh, that's right. He had gone to school this morning, Ikuto and Utau tagging along for "protection" (for themselves or the others Nagihiko didn't know), and presumably he fell asleep in class, as he had stayed up all night fretting about Rima's safety.

Nagihiko let out a sigh of relief as he slowly sat up. Nobody new was dead. The others hadn't come back to hurt him. But yet… they had blamed him. And he felt like there accusations were pretty accurate.

He was to blame. He had forgotten the past, as his grandmother had said he had. He couldn't remember anything as hard as he tried. Amu and Rima and all of the others were going to end up dead, just like in his dream. He was going to kill all the people he loved.

"Sorry. I just had a really bad dream…. Everyone was dead and chasing after me, telling me that it was all my fault that they were dead. And I somehow feel like it could actually happen," Nagihiko ducked his head down and rested it between his hands. Everyone stared at him sadly, not knowing how they could ease his pain.

"I just feel like I'm going to lose everyone and it will be entirely my fault! Why can't I remember what I did?" Nagihiko looked up, letting tears slip down his cheeks. He didn't want to cry, especially as he had had his one allotted breakdown the day before, but he couldn't contain it.

"I didn't want to get anyone killed, much less Tadase and Yaya and Kukai!" Nagihiko said quite uncharacteristically, his body quivering as he tried to contain himself. But was it of any use? They were all dead anyway. Why put on a brave front if he was going to die the next day?

Suddenly Nagihiko felt shooting pain burn his face. He jerked backwards frantically, pressing his hands to his stinging face, his mouth agape in shock. Rima stood over him, her arm raised across her chest, a fierce scowl on her face.

"Are you a man or what? Grow up! Crying and throwing a pity-party isn't going to do anything to help your situation. Just get over it!" Rima scowled at the boy below her, a fierce expression on her face. "So what if you may have gotten them killed or whatever shit your grandmother was blabbering about? Crying about it isn't going to do any good! And you saved my life, even at the risk of your own, so I think that more than makes up for it!"

"But I-"

"No buts! You've been doing everything possible to keep us all together, right? Stressing yourself out about this is just going to get you killed. You're still alive, I'm still alive, Amu's still alive… you need to stop focusing on what's lost and worry about protecting what you still have."

"But-"

Rima slapped Nagihiko again. "Stop your stupid bitching right now."

"But-"

SLAP

"Alright," Nagihiko grumbled as he rubbed his face irritably. He stood up and glared down at Rima. "But you didn't need to hit me."

"Yeah I did. It knocked some sense into you," Rima protested, crossing her arms over her chest. "Now what are you going to do?"

"Worry about the future and not the past," Nagihiko muttered. Rima slapped him again.

"What the hell was _that_ for?" Nagihiko exclaimed, thoroughly shocked. Rima shrugged

"It's fun," Rima said, the corners of her lips turning up at Nagihiko's outrage. He sighed to himself as their guardian characters giggled. He was glad that Rima was cheering up, but didn't like that it was at his expense. Maybe he could get her to start slapping Ikuto….

"Excuse me, Mashiro-san and Fujisaki-san," A cheery voice called throughout the room. Both of them turned to see Nikaido standing at the front of the room while holding a heavy textbook. "I'm sorry to interrupt your slapping fun but it is the middle of class, you know?"

"Oh." Both Rima and Nagihiko briefly turned to their classmates, who were eying them oddly, before sinking back into their seats, their faces flush with embarrassment.

"Thank you. You can continue your kinky little sadomasochism game after class if you wish."

"Ha, he's almost as good as Nagihiko's mom!" Ikuto chuckled from where he lounged in Nikaido's chair, his feet propped up on the older man's desk.

Rima stuck her middle finger up at him and the teacher's turned back.

(Break.)

It was probably afternoon, Tadase thought. During the night his kidnapper leaves and during the morning the kidnapper usually returns, so it was probably afternoon. There were no clocks in the abandoned warehouse he was kept in and the windows were all boarded up so Tadase had no other way to tell.

He sat in the closet, waiting for the girl's screams to die down and for him, Kukai, and Yaya to be let out, the other two currently complete messes. Yaya lay on the floor, sobbing loudly as she thrashed around uselessly. Her body was badly bruised and beaten from the earlier attack, and Tadase wished he could comfort her but that was absolutely impossible. His hands were tied behind his back and his mouth gagged. All he could do was stare sympathetically at the poor girl.

Kukai wasn't in a much better state. He was yelling, or at least attempting to through the gag, and was wiggling desperately, trying to either get to his feet or untie the ropes binding him, Tadase couldn't tell. His head, which had earlier been bleeding profusely, had been somewhat healed by the kidnapper and was wrapped up in a large bandage, giving him the appearance of a war veteran.

Tadase wished the girl outside would stop screaming, as it was only making Yaya get more agitated. But he guessed he couldn't blame her. A few hours ago she was sitting at home, watching television, or maybe out at a party with her friends, and now she was abducted and being attacked by someone she most likely had never even met before.

Tadase fidgeted in place, the ropes tying his hands together burning his wrists. His head ached and he desperately wanted to check to see if it was bleeding again. But he couldn't do much of anything if he was tied up. Being here all of four days made him learn that. And during those four days Tadase grew more and more desperate, more and more scared. He had woken up that morning worried that Amu would be lying in the middle of the floor, wounded as he and the others had been. But the kidnapper hadn't brought anyone else yet, although Tadase knew the stopping of his friend's being taken was simply temporary. He was simply thankful that Ikuto was out of the country, so he wouldn't be put into danger as well.

Out of the three of them there, Tadase was currently the healthiest, the one the kidnapper was the gentlest with. He had suffered from her attack of course, but with many less injuries than Yaya and Kukai. It was as though she either was slightly fond of him, or she was simply getting more impatient as she took more people.

The screams subsided for a moment as a fierce round of retching was heard. The girl must have thrown up from the pain applied to her body, he thought. Poor girl. It was horrible for Tadase to have to listen to her screams of pain as she was attacked, not even having the slighted idea why.

But it wasn't like Tadase knew either. He had spent his last few days developing theory after theory about what could be happening to him and his friends, why they were being locked up and not killed when this random girl had been attacked straightaway. What was the correlation? Tadase was positive he had never seen that girl before in his life.

But then again, when had anything made sense lately?

A/N: Haha, I finally got a rimahiko slapfest! Yay~  
>And happy Easter! Haha, Shugo Chara gives me mixed feelings about this holiday. ;)<br>And oh my god. So many reviews and new readers! I love you guys! :) Thank you so much for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I'll say this now: I'm sorry. Don't ask… you'll figure it out soon enough.  
>Oh, and I'm not a really sure of the layout of Nagi's room, so just bare with me. :\<p>

(Break.)

Rima shuffled into the room she was sharing with Nagihiko and was momentarily puzzled. Where was he? She was extremely nervous for a second (imagining the killer dragging him away) before she spotted him sitting in the doorway opposite the one she had entered, staring out at the night sky with a rather serious expression on his face.

"What's eating you?"

Nagihiko turned around and met Rima's eyes, giving her a small smile before turning back to the darkness.

"I was just thinking about what's going on and what's going to happen next," Nagihiko told Rima as she sat down next to him (rather closely, he noted, not that it meant anything; the doorway was a rather tight fit, after all).

"If you think the killer is going to get someone else, whom do you think it will be?" Rima asked, propping her elbow up on her knee and in turn resting her chin on her palm, looking quite bored, rather than scared, which Nagihiko thought was quite daring, considering the situation and all.

Nagihiko waited a moment before responding "Amu or Kairi," _or_ _you_. Nagihiko couldn't say the last part, though Rima seemed to get it

"Or me," she said weakly, her voice meek in comparison to what it normally was. Nagihiko didn't deny this statement, but simply nodded his head in the slightest.

"_Do_ you think she's going to attack again?" Rima asked. Nagihiko sighed.

"Yeah. For some reason I feel as though the killer is going to strike again tonight," Nagihiko said solemnly. Rima nodded her head vaguely, knowing that Nagihiko was somehow clued in to things pertaining to the killer. She had wondered about that briefly, originally supposing maybe he had some sort of relation to it, but had almost immediately pushed this aside. If he did have something to do with the murders, why would he have gone to such lengths to protect her?

"You know, you never told the others about my so-called 'connection' to the killer," Nagihiko noted, lifting his fingers to play with the end of Rima's braid. Rima shoved his hand away, her face taking on a hint of pink.

"Well, it's pretty obvious that this whole thing isn't your doing, and telling them would only make them doubt you, so I didn't think they needed to know."

"You really have so much faith in me?" Nagihiko asked, his eyes full of shock. Rima's own eyes briefly met his.

"Of course," she said bluntly, somewhat surprised that he didn't already know, "I mean, some of the time you really piss me off or whatever but I really do trust you."

"You could have fooled me," Nagihiko teased, setting his hand on the floor between the two of them, his fingers almost touching hers.

"I may not show it all the time, but I do really like you," Rima admitted, carefully moving her fingers and then intertwining them with Nagihiko's. Rima didn't know what exactly she was doing or what her feelings for the boy were, but, supposing she or Nagihiko did get killed, she didn't want things to be left the way they were.

"I think I kind of love you," Nagihiko blurted out in the spur of the moment suddenly, before he could realize what exactly he was saying. Rima froze, causing Nagihiko to feel as though his heart stopped beating right then and there. He was going to be rejected, he was going to be rejected, rejected….

"Stupid cross-dresser," Rima muttered, seemingly quite irritated. Nagihiko felt cold, horrified. It was as though the killer had already struck him. He almost felt as though his heart would never beat again…

…but it started thundering once more when Rima leaned her head against his shoulder.

Maybe Rima would die tonight. Maybe she would live for many more years. Maybe Nagihiko would die tonight. He didn't know what was going to happen in the future, but he knew right now he was happy. Through whatever happened next he would hold the memory of this moment in the back of his mind, the memory of Rima's head on his shoulder and her fingers weaved within his.

And maybe this reassurance, this happiness, is what caused things to break.

(Break.)

Nagihiko groaned tiredly, emerging from his half-asleep state rather reluctantly. Great. He had finally convinced himself to fall asleep when one of his guardian characters messing around had woken him up. Just great.

But wait, his guardian characters were sleeping lazily in their eggs. Nagihiko could see them at that moment, their eggs rocking back and forth in time with tiny snores.

Then what was that thumping noise?

He quickly sat up and spun around in the dark, turning to look over at Rima's bed. It was really dark and his eyes hadn't adjusted yet, so he couldn't really see what was there. He blinked several times, trying to determine what was there, expecting, or more correctly hoping, it to simply his mother or grandmother.

The first thing he saw was Rima lying there, still alive, her chest rising and falling peacefully. Nagihiko couldn't help bet let out a small, relived sigh.

But after just a second that breath caught in his throat. Someone he could only presume was the killer was standing over her, something silver gleaming in her hand.

Nagihiko pinched himself, hopeful that it was just another horrifying nightmare, but to no avail. His eyes were already open, his body had already been plunged into reality. And reality was that the killer was going to kill Mashiro Rima.

"Rima!" Nagihiko cried, leaping forward to his friend's aid. But he was stopped in an instant by himself as the killer pressed the knife against the pale skin of Rima's neck. She smirked as she pushed it closer into the girl's neck and a few droplets of blood appeared on the sharp blade.

Nagihiko froze, subconsciously knowing that if he tried to stop the killer now Rima would immediately be killed. His head spun, his stomach churned. Nagihiko prayed and prayed that he wouldn't screw things up here, wondering what exactly he could do to save Rima now, briefly taking a moment to examine the killer. Although it was dark in the room Nagihiko was fairly certain that this was a different person than the one who had appeared before them the previous time. And, on another note, she looked younger than the other, and more human. She was the "first" killer to have normal eyes, normal being a relative term. The dark pools of black stared at Nagihiko, leaving him feeling exposed, as though she could see into his soul. Was this girl part of a group that was hunting them down, or was something much different going on here?

The killer lifted the unconscious girl into her arms effortlessly, with an unnatural amount of strength, after slipping the small knife into a pocket on her skirt. She smirked at Nagihiko as she began to walk backwards, leaving the room, taking Rima from him forever.

Suddenly he realized that it didn't matter if his efforts got Rima killed now; if he didn't do something she would be killed anyway, and maybe after experiencing a lot of pain. It was better to try and fail to save her now than to let her go through who knows how much agony.

Nagihiko jumped from the bed and ran straight at the killer, who smirked at him before taking off at a run as well. Nagihiko didn't really care what happened at this moment; he didn't care if he got his family and servants killed, or himself for that matter, he just wanted to save Rima from experiencing more pain than necessary. And if he had to wake the whole fucking house up to do so, he would do it.

"Rima!" he screamed, racing down the hallway at a nearly impossible speed. He had never ran so quickly before, never been so frantic and desperate. He stumbled and tripped over rugs and his own feet but kept pursuing the killer, even though she progressively got farther away from him.

Whenever his lungs would let him he would scream out, trying to get somebody's attention, trying to wake Rima up, trying to stop the killer. He could hear people running behind him but none of them were of any help. Somehow, it seemed as though the killer knew the extremely complicated layout of his house better than he did himself. She weaved through the hallways quickly, knowing exactly where to go to get out of the building as quickly as possible.

"Nagihiko! Stop!" his mother's voice came out strangled, screechy. She was frantic, he could feel it. Just as frantic as he was for Rima's safety. She didn't want her baby to die. But Nagihiko didn't want his love to die either.

"Rima!" Nagihiko screamed again, pumping his arms wildly as he raced forward, trying desperately to get to the girl being swept away by the killer. He heard something quite melodic float back to his ears, wondering where exactly such a sound fit in with the terror filled yells enveloping him. Then he realized, much to his chagrin, that the killer was giggling, almost as if she was having a pleasant time. Nagihiko was suddenly filled with rage. To her, his desperate attempt was just a joke; nothing to be worried about at all.

"Fuck!" Nagihiko yelled out, cursing the killer and his inability to run fast enough to catch up.

"Temari, Rhythm!" Nagihiko cried out, desperate for his guardian characters to character transform with him, to give him additional strength. But, for a reason he didn't know, they weren't around. He momentarily thought they had been destroyed as Kiseki had been, but then realized he had seen them sleeping in their eggs earlier. So they were sleeping at a time like this?

"Fuck," Nagihiko gasped out again, finding it harder and harder to breathe as he kept running frantically, his pace slowing down as every second passed.

He was going to let Rima die.

"Nagihiko! Stop!" Nagihiko was pulled back by his mother's hands. He thrashed around frantically as she tried to contain him. "It's no use she's gone-"

Nagihiko's open palm met his mother's face. She reeled back, shocked at her son's brazenness. Their eyes met for less than a half a second before Nagihiko, free from his mom's grasp, ran through the open front door took off after the killer into the dark night.

He was met headfirst by a thick sheet of rain, one so dense he could barely see a few meters in front of him. He caught the slightest glimpse of Rima's blonde, Rapunzel hair and took off in that direction.

"Rima!" he screamed again, his bare feet splashing against puddles forming on the hard concrete. He didn't stop though. Even as sharp rocks cut and scrapped his feet he didn't stop running, chasing desperately after something he couldn't see. He kept running even after he lost them on the main road. He kept running even though he knew Rima and the killer were long gone.

Nagihiko spun around wildly, seeing nothing but rain and the dark silhouettes of buildings in all directions. Rima was nowhere in sight and Tokyo was a huge city. He would never find her now.

"Rima!" he screamed, tilting his head back, projecting his voice through the air desperately. He received no reply, except for the low hum of a car's engine and its bright lights.

Nagihiko didn't look up as his mother and Baaya-san fled the car, racing to him desperately, and in turn pulled him into a desperate hug. The tears cascaded down from his eyes, mixing in with the rain soaking him down to the bone. The two women lead him to the car and helped the sobbing boy into the back seat. He glanced to his right and saw his grandmother sitting there, her lips pressed into a tight line.

"You forgot," she said, trying to refrain from showing any emotion but soon finding herself quite unable to. She wrapped her arms around her grandson and pulled his body into her. Her voice cracking, she whispered, "And it's too late now."

(Break.)

Amu was incredibly on edge. Class had started two hours ago, and neither Rima nor Nagihiko had arrived yet. Had they been attacked? Or maybe they were just taken a day off, for stress relief. God knew they needed a little bit of that right now….

Amu glanced at Utau, who sat in the corner silent and brooding, as she had been everyday since Kukai had been taken. She ignored the awed glances Amu's classmates would send her way every few minutes, and simply stared off into the opposite direction. Something inside of her had broken when Kukai had been taken, and she was like a completely different person now. She didn't want to live without Kukai, but yet she knew she owed it to him. She would live on to the best of her ability for his sake. Amu briefly wondered if she would end up like that if Ikuto was taken.

The door to the classroom was thrown open as a loud crack of thunder echoed from outside the classroom. Everyone jumped as they turned to the door, terrified by what they might see. Nobody expected what they did see, though.

Nagihiko stood there, drenched from the rain he had walked through to get into the building, a horrible expression on his face. He wasn't mad or disgusted or anything… he was simply broken.

They all knew before he said it. They all knew exactly what had happened, just by his face, by his quivering lips, by the way that the rain dripping down his cheeks was accompanied by tears as well.

Nagihiko looked up at the class, their faces a blur due to the tears filling his eyes. He thought he was going to die, right then and there. He thought he was going to just collapse to the ground and die. Rima was gone, he had let her be taken. She was forever gone. He would never hear her voice again, never see her face again, never hold her in his arms again. Less than twenty-four hours ago she had been with him in this very same classroom, slapping him. Twelve hours ago she had sat with him, her head resting on his shoulder. And now she was dead.

"Rima's dead!" Nagihiko cried, throwing back his head as tears poured from his eyes. His body shook severely, before his legs gave out altogether and he collapsed on his knees. He grabbed his head between his hands desperately, pulling on his hair. He shook his head back and forth, as if trying to shake away reality, yelling out "She's fucking dead!"

Nobody could move or speak. Nobody could breathe. The air seemed several times too heavy for the room.

It was impossible. Rima couldn't be dead.

But yet Nagihiko, the most collected person that the class knew, was in hysterics, having completely lost his sanity. This was the only thing they needed to see to know it was true: the killer had gotten Rima, just as she had gotten the others.

Rima was dead, just like Tadase, Yaya, and Kukai.

(Break.)

A/N: I feel cruel; scaring you into thinking Rima was dead last chapter, then it's just a dream, and then she's kidnapped this chapter. Sorry. xD  
>Anyway, if you have a moment please review. I really appreciate all the feedback I've been getting. :)<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

It had been approximately one day since he had shown up to the classroom in tears, and Nagihiko still was in a horrible state.

He was silent, moody. Unable to do much of anything, he simply stared at nothing in particular, trying to drone out the surrounding classroom. He had ended up worse than anyone else, even Utau, who was moody and aggressive. But at least she was responsive to the surroundings at the moment. Nagihiko seemed to be blocking out everything that was going on around him. He wouldn't even talk to his guardian characters.

The only reassurance he had gotten was that the police were now making an active effort to get back their friends, but seeing as the teenage girls kidnappings were still highly unsolved it was obvious that not much work was going to be done. Nagihiko cursed the idiocy of his country and it's police system.

"Fujisaki-san!"

Nagihiko stared out the window, looking at the dark, storming sky disdainfully, trying to block out the voice calling his name. He didn't want to deal with people right now.

"Fujisaki-san!"

Nagihiko turned his head slightly and looked towards the front of the room with an unresponsive expression. Nikaido stood there, nervously staring at his student. He knew things were really bad for him right now, and he wanted to help him. Not just as his teacher, but as a friend of sorts as well.

"Can you come here for a second?" Nikaido asked pleasantly. Nagihiko sighed and stood up silently, walking to the front of the room slowly, not caring enough to put in too much effort. As he walked across the room Amu desperately tried to catch his eye but he purposely avoided doing so. He didn't want to deal with her, to have her sympathize with his pain and tell her that it wasn't his fault, because he honestly now knew that it was.

"Fujisaki-san, I would ask you if you're okay but I know that that is a completely ridiculous thing to ask, and that the answer is painfully obvious," Nikaido began, leaning against his desk in a serious manner. Nagihiko didn't make eye contact, but simply glanced over at his classmates studying by themselves. How could anyone act so normally at such a time? "I would also like to tell you that this isn't your fault but I also know that you will not believe that under any circumstances. What I am going to tell you is that if there is anything at all you think I can do to help you, I would be more than happy to oblige."

Nagihiko nodded absentmindedly, not really intending to ever ask him for any help whatsoever. Really, there wasn't anything anyone could do to help him. He had been the only one able to stop this and it was now too late to fix it, or so his grandmother had told him.

His eyes flickered down onto Nikaido's newspaper titled "Kitamura Ayaka still missing, along with six others." It was just another one of the kidnapped girls. Nagihiko hadn't paid any attention to the case, but apparently it was pretty serious. He looked down a bit, and glanced at the picture staring up at him. His heart stopped in it's tracks.

It. was. her.

"It's her," he muttered, his eyebrows furrowing as he dove at the newspaper. He studied the picture for a second, his mind flashing back to the killer holding a blade to Rima's throat. The happy grin staring up at him was faintly recognizable in the killer's mad smirk. "It's her!"

Nikaido looked down at his student curiously as he frantically flipped through the pages of the newspaper, stopping several pages in at the continuation of the article. Along with the rest of the article, there were pictures of every other girl that had been taken.

His eyes skimmed the page and stopped on a brunette with lively eyes, Oyama Hoshiko. He stared at her intently, imagining her eyes blank and her hair loose and stringy. It took a few seconds, but it finally clicked in his mind. The girl who stole Kukai.

Nagihiko's eyes shot to the left and met with another girl's face. Black hair, black eyes, and pale white skin. Nagihiko's mind reeled, imagining the girl with her eyes removed, empty holes staring into him. It was her… the first one! The one that killed Rima's… Mashiro-san.

"It's them! They're the girls!" Nagihiko looked up at Nikaido, his eyes wide. He waved the newspaper around in front of him frantically, "They killers are the girls!"

"What? You're saying that the killer is the girls? But those girls were kidnapped, presumably killed. How could they do something like this? And much less, why?" Ikuto, who was sitting behind Nikaido's desk, seemed to think that Nagihiko's theory was a little absurd; maybe the stress had gotten to him worse than the others thought.

"I don't know what the details are or whatever but I swear to god that that-" Nagihiko pointed at the picture on the front page of the paper, "is the girl that took Ri… her the other night and that those-" Nagihiko pointed at the two girls on the inside page, "are the ones that killed Souma-kun and Mashiro-san!"

"Let me see!" Utau demanded, standing up and walking to the front of the room quickly, speaking for what had to be the first time in days. She snatched the newspaper from Nagihiko's hands and examined it intently. After a very long moment she looked up at him and whispered, "It's definitely her. Without a doubt."

Nikaido sent one of his students to get Kairi from his classroom and let his others take a short break, realizing the importance of what was going on at that moment. They were about to make a breakthrough… hopefully.

"Wait, so what's going on here exactly?" Amu asked, gazing at the newspaper in front of her curiously, taking in the small blank print and vaguely familiar faces. She had almost immediately recognized the second two girls, just as Nagihiko had, but couldn't deny that something was off about them. Well, not only their creepy eyes or whatever. Something else was wrong with them. "A bunch of teenage girls pretended to be abducted to kidnap our friends and kill Rima's mom? No way."

"Oh no. That is absolutely not what's happening. It's impossible that they would be able to sustain such damage to their bodies, remember that the first girls looked like corpses, just by themselves. Something must be acting upon them," Kairi quickly rebuked Amu's theory, shaking his head. "Do you all remember what Ikuto-san said a few days ago? 'maybe there's something supernatural going on here.' At this point, that is highly plausible."

"So, like what? A ghost is possessing them or something?" Utau seemed quite doubtful of this, but Kairi nodded.

Ikuto spoke up in a weak voice, "I have something to tell you guys… I probably should have said it earlier but I didn't think it would be right to in front of Rima and then yesterday everything was really sensitive…."

Amu didn't have a good feeling about this. "What is it?"

Ikuto hesitated, seemingly pondering just how exactly to break the news to the group. After a moment in which he fidgeted in his seat nervously, he found the words he wanted to say.

"I got a call from an officer working on Tadase's kidnapping the other day and… they found Mashiro-san's DNA several places in his room, in such a way that it is impossible that she hadn't been there recently."

Everyone gasped, their eyes wide in shock. Rima's mother had been in Tadase's room right before he had gotten kidnapped, or… when he was kidnapped? But she was dead! She couldn't have moved there on her own. Was she and Tadase somehow involved with this whole thing? Was something serious going on between them?

"I have a theory…" Kairi muttered hesitantly, simply speaking out loud, "And it's kind of crazy. But I think we need to pay Tsubasa-kun a visit."

"Huh? But isn't he still at the hospital? Do you think he can handle visitors right now?" Amu was worried about the young boy, with good reason. She had called Yaya's mother to ask about him once and heard that the boy had fallen completely silent, not daring to utter so much as a single word since he had been operated on. When asked once why he wouldn't talk he had opened his mouth but closed it quickly again, shaking his head back and forth, scared beyond all belief. According to the doctors, he had been traumatized from his attack, as he still possessed the ability to speak but no longer had the will power to.

"I'm not sure, but this is really important. We need to go there straightaway," Kairi was very stoic, but yet Amu knew he wasn't looking forward to it.

"Are you sure _you _can handle it?" Kairi nodded slightly. He couldn't avoid seeing him just because he was Yaya's little brother, actually, especially because of that reason. He had to do whatever it took to figure out what was going on and to protect those that hadn't yet been killed. He had failed to save Yaya, but he wasn't going to fail to save Amu as well.

No matter what the cost, he would protect his friends.

(Break.)

The guardians plus the Tsukiyomi siblings stood outside of the door to Tsubasa's hospital room, the boy's mother standing in the lead with her hand on the door knob. She was reluctant to let them in, seeing as how distraught her remaining child was, but understood that they must have had a pretty good reason to be there.

"Please be sensitive; he's not entirely in his right mind," she whispered, before slowly turning the handle and leading them inside.

The group slowly entered the room, shocked at what they saw. The small boy was hooked up to a number of machines, including an iv and a heart monitor that beat at a constant rate. Tsubasa was obviously not doing well; his face was covered in scars and a white bandage was wrapped around his head. He jumped when the door was opened, his eyes flying open in fear. After seeing that it was just his mother and some other harmless people, he relaxed (slightly), but still appeared very on edge.

"Tsubasa-kun, would it be okay if you listened to some of Onee-chan's friends?" his mother spoke softly, worried that raising her voice in even the slightest would hurt her son even more.

Tsubasa looked at every person in the room, fear glittering in the back of his eyes. It may have simply been Nagihiko's imagination, but he could have sworn he looked at him a second longer than the others. Finally, after a long, breathless moment, he nodded his head in just the slightest.

"Okay, Tsubasa-kun," Kairi said, pushing his glasses up before reaching into his bag and pulling out a small stack of papers, keeping the front of them facing inward. "I'm going to show you some pictures, and all I need you to do is look at them, okay?"

Kairi then turned to his mother and explained, "I think he may be able to tell us who the killer is."

Tsubasa nodded somewhat uncertainly, and his mother fidgeted nervously beside him. After a small moment she gave nod of approval as well. Kairi smiled slightly at the young boy, and turned over the first paper. On it was a picture of Rima's mother. He held it in front of the boy for at least a minute, but the boy didn't seem to have any response to the image. After a moment, he set it down and picked up another.

On it was a picture of Tadase.

"Whoa! You think _Tadase _did this?" Ikuto was furious, glaring at Kairi with such anger even Utau hadn't seen in ages. Kairi just shook his head.

"I'll explain in a bit," he promised, before holding the picture of Tadase up in front of Tsubasa. The child stared at it for a long time, but didn't have any other response than that. Kairi let out a small sigh of relief as he sat the picture down on top of the others, before holding up yet another one.

It was of a girl with long black hair, a huge grin, and sparkling eyes. Just by looking at a picture of her you could tell she was a nice person. The others wondered why this picture was with ones of people they knew, before they realized that it must have been one of the kidnapped girls.

At once, Tsubasa's eyes grew wide and his breathing quickened. He jerked away, not daring to make a sound, silent tears pouring out from his eyes.

"Put that away!" his mother urged Kairi, who gladly obliged. Her son twitched and jerked in the bed, the heart monitor beeping at an incredible speed.

A nurse ran into the room frantically, rushing to the flailing child. Another one grabbed the teenagers standing there and pulled them forcefully from the room, slamming the door shut in their faces.

Half an hour later, sitting around the table in Amu's house, Kairi explained just what he had been doing.

"I was trying to see if Tsubasa had seen the killer's face, and seeing his response I would have to say that he did indeed do that, and that this girl, Katsura Ai, is who he saw."

"But… how is that possible? She was kidnapped in the morning, before Yaya had been! And why did you show him Tadase's picture?" Amu obviously didn't understand Kairi's thought process.

"I… I want you to listen to what I'm about to say with an open mind, okay?" Kairi looked nervous, reluctant to share his knowledge. It was as though he didn't have any confidence in his own theory. Everyone just nodded silently, knowing that it was better not to interrupt.

"Okay, so, I…" Kairi broke off for a moment before he finished, blushing fiercely, "I think that the killer is possessing it's victims corpses and then using them to kill the rest of us."

"So, zombies?" Utau felt a pang in her heart at Amu's words, thinking back on the time when Kukai had so passionately believed that what was hunting them was indeed a zombie. So, he had been right in the end… for the first time in his life. Utau briefly had the urge to laugh, but it was quickly crushed by her feelings of fear and despair. Kairi shook his head.

"Not exactly. They are presumably dead, but I wouldn't imagine that they are acting out of their own will. I think that the killer is controlling them."

A horrible feeling crashed on top of everyone's heads, imagining their loved ones coming for them, dragging their bodies away, killing their families. It was preposterous, Amu thought, imagining a sweet boy like Tadase chopping someone up with an ax. What could she possibly do if he came for her like that?

"Controlling them… to kill us?" Nagihiko looked like he was going to throw up. He didn't want to believe something so stupid. Or maybe it wasn't really stupid… maybe it was just terrifying. Imagining someone you loved more than life itself ripping your body open, tearing you apart….

"Do you have any idea how stupid you sound right now?" Ikuto asked weakly.

"Unfortunately, yes." Kairi did seem awfully embarrassed with what he was saying, probably because he was used to everything making sense. And this… this definitely didn't make sense. Not in the slightest.

"I'm not sure if I can believe this," Utau muttered, resting her head in the palm of one of her hands, "I mean, it's all so crazy."

"I wish it wasn't true, but think of all the evidence: Mashiro-san's DNA in Tadase's room, the corpse-like bodies that shouldn't be moving and look like girls who just happened to be kidnapped around the exact same time…" Kairi trailed off. It did make perfectly good sense, and if guardian characters were to exist what's to say that someone couldn't bring a dead body back to life?

"I think that you know it's true, but you just don't want it to be, am I correct?"

Utau deliberately looked away, finding herself unable to meet Kairi's eyes as he had hit the mark dead on. She didn't want to imagine Kukai running around town slicing people up, not even having the faintest idea what he was doing.

"I… I'm going to go," Nagihiko muttered, standing to his feet quickly, not wanting to process what Kairi had just said. Like Utau, he didn't want to accept what he most likely already knew to be the truth.

"Nagihiko, I… it's not your fault, you know? You didn't cause Rima to get taken," Amu said this quietly, and when Nagihiko didn't respond for several long moments she almost thought he hadn't heard her. But then she noticed how his clenched fists were shaking. He barely managed to whisper one sentence before leaving the room, tears flooding his eyes.

"Didn't I though?"

(Break.)

Tadase didn't know why he suddenly realized it. Maybe it was just one of the hundreds of theories that had filled his wary brain. Maybe it was locking eyes with the killer. Maybe it was hearing her speak to the gagged and beaten Rima. But suddenly he realized.

How could he have forgotten? How could he have been so stupid?

No one else had figured it out, of this Tadase was sure. For one, Yaya had stopped moving altogether the day before and just laid on the floor, staring blankly into the distance. Occasionally she would let out a sob or whisper Kukai's name, but he couldn't help her. Kukai had fallen unconscious that morning, the wound on his head finally taking it's toll. Though he still wasn't dead; Tadase could see his chest rising and falling every once in a while.

And Rima… the killer seemed to really dislike her. She had beaten her senseless after taking here, wherever here was. Her beautiful blonde hair was matted with globs of dried blood, dark bruises colored the pale skin of her arms and legs, blood dripped slowly from the cuts all over her body. It almost made Tadase sick to look at her. She was like a broken doll.

But somehow, through all this madness, Tadase had somehow managed to keep the tiniest piece of his sanity and he had pieced it all together. He had figured everything out. It was so simple, so obvious. Everyone were simply idiots.

Something had changed inside of Tadase though. His opinion on the kidnappings, his opinion on the murder. He suddenly saw everything through a new light. And, like with the revelation of the happenings going on around him, he realized something else; he realized what his new goal was. He was no longer preoccupied with getting himself out of here. No, he had something much bigger to do.

And he would have to do it tomorrow.

A/N: Oh god, this took ages to write. I can't believe I actually finished it. I thought this chapter would never be completed. -_-" And it's pretty boring too. But, as you could probably tell, the real fun starts next chapter. ;)  
>Thanks so much for reading! If you have a moment please review! :3<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

_A young girl sat in front of a tombstone, sobbing at the name reflected back at her. Her long hair fell over her shoulders as she weeped into her palms, shrouding her face in darkness. She felt like her heart had cracked in two. It couldn't be true, it couldn't. Yes, she had known that **that person **had been dead for a while but yet the reality of it had suddenly crashed down onto her head. **That person** was entirely gone, and it was all their fault. They had hurt her and now she would never get to live again._

_"It's a shame, isn't it?" The girl looked up to see a dark figure standing over her, his face obscured by a dark cloak that covered his body._

_"What's a shame? That… that she is dead?" the girl asked uncertainly, tears dripping down her face to splatter in the dirt. The figure nodded._

_"You know, she had so much life ahead of her. It is simply horrible that she were murdered so brutally by the ones she loved the most."_

_"Isn't it?" The girl said, a small smile twitching at the corner of her lips. Finally someone understood how cruel it was, how wrong. How** that person** wasn't the one to blame!_

_"I think she would very much like to be given the chance to live again, no?"_

_"Please! I'll do anything!_

_The girl stared up at the cloaked figure, hope glittering through tear-filled eyes. Although she couldn't see it, a smirk became etched on the cloaked-one's face._

_"Then your wish will be fulfilled."_

Nagihiko had awoken that morning feeling as though he had had a fairly vivid dream, but couldn't remember it as hard as he tried. Supposing it maybe didn't matter he had stopped trying after a minute or two and the whole thing was forgotten in less than half an hour.

Staring out the window of the classroom, gazing at the dark sky, he felt kind of sick. Not like he was going to throw up, but rather like something was off. Nobody had been kidnapped yesterday or the day before, which left Nagihiko feeling as though it was simply the calm before the storm.

The more he thought about what had happened the more it hurt. He had let Rima get kidnapped from right under his nose, and who knew what was happening to her right now, or if she was even alive. And if she was… Rima had already been kidnapped when she was younger, and the ordeal had left her scarred. Whenever she was stuck in a small space she had a complete breakdown, crying and screaming to no end. And if she was tied up somewhere with a psychotic murderer…. Nagihiko couldn't even think of it, it hurt him so bad. He had failed her.

Nagihiko couldn't take how normal the rest of his classmates were being. They acted as though nothing had happened. Sure, at the news of each death a veil of darkness had fallen over them and they would be gloomy for the rest of the day but the next they would be cheery as usual. It was so obnoxious that it took all of Nagihiko's willpower not to just start screaming at them. And that goddamn tapping just wouldn't stop!

Wait, what?

Nagihiko jerked his head towards the slightly ajar window, dreading what he would see. He hoped and hoped it was simply his immagination but no. There was a pale hand reaching up to pull the window all the way open. Nagihiko screamed, jumping backwards frantically, his chair falling to the floor and his back hitting the desk that used to be Rima's.

"What? What is it?" Ikuto jumped to his feet, rushing forward frantically, the baseball bat he had stolen from the gym days earlier grasped in his hands tightly. Nagihiko pointed towards the window as he rushed backwards, trying to get away before he was taken like Rima. Ikuto spun towards the glass, his eyes widening as he saw the hand.

"Get back!" he yelled at the rest of the class, who hurriedly obliged, either leaving the room entirely or crowding around the door in a massive crowd.

"Ikuto! Be careful!" Amu pleaded, her eyes wide and fearful as she clung to Utau desperately. Ikuto nodded at her, before slowly advancing towards the window as the hand succeeded to pull it open. Ikuto readied the baseball bat and stood cautiously as another hand slowly reached up and joined the other one on grasping onto the window pane. The muscles on the arms were visibly strained as they pushed the intruder's body up. A head of blonde hair was suddenly visible and Ikuto swung the bat hard before he was stopped.

"No! Ikuto stop!" Utau screamed loudly, causing her brother to stop mid-swing, drop his bat to the floor, and dart his eyes between the intruder and his sister.

"Why did you-" Ikuto cut himself off, no longer needing to finish his question, much less receive an answer to it. In front of him was someone he never expected to see again… Tadase.

Tadase _was_ alive! For a second relief flooded Ikuto's face before it was suddenly replaced with anger. This just another "zombie," coming back to finish someone else off; to kill another one of Ikuto's loved ones. Well, in Tadase's body or not, Ikuto would not let that happen.

"Ikuto-" Tadase started to speak as he began to heave his body in through the window, but was cut off as Ikuto grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forcefully pulled him up. He spun him around before slamming him down to the table, holding him there with an unnecessary amount of force.

"I'm going to kill you for what you did," Ikuto hissed at Tadase, rage livid on his face. At this moment he was positively horrifying; never before had Amu ever witnessed such raw anger. He honestly looked like it was give him the utmost pleasure to stab a knife through Tadase's heart. But wait, it wasn't Tadase. It was a murderer. Yes, a murderer. Tadase was dead, and the thing controlling him was the one who did so. Ikuto's rage was completely justified… or so Amu thought.

"Ikuto!" Tadase exclaimed, his eyes wide and filled with fear. He desperately grasped at the collar of Ikuto's shirt with fumbling hands, tears filling his bright pink eyes. "Stop! Stop!"

Ikuto gripped Tadase's ripped shirt harder, though uncertainty began to course through his veins. This was Tadase… was he really pinning Tadase to the table, poised to kill him? Was he really? But it wasn't Tadase! It was a killer! Was it though?

"Please, Ikuto-nii-san," Tadase whispered, shutting his eyes together tightly as his body shook uncontrollably. Ikuto hesitated, a voice in his head telling him to let Tadase go, but another telling him to kill him right now.

Ikuto let go of Tadase and stumbled backwards, his heart racing and his head spinning. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, who else would I be?" Tadase whispered uncertainly, his eyes wide and filled with fear, as he struggled to his feet. Ikuto examined him better and realized he looked like complete shit. He was battered and bruised, his clothes were filthy and he smelled rather rancid, dirt streaked with the trails of tears coating his face.

"Is it really, really you?" Ikuto asked, a sudden hotness igniting in his eyes. Tears began to drip down his face, his body shaking slightly. Tadase tilted his head slightly, confused.

"Ikuto-nii-"

Ikuto rushed forward and pulled Tadase into a tight hug, tears falling down into the shorter boy's blonde hair. "I thought you were dead!"

"No, no ones dead yet except for those girls but Ik-"

"Wait!" Nagihiko leaped forward, his face frantic. He rushed towards the two and shoved Ikuto aside hurriedly, "Rima-chan's alive?"

"Yeah, and so are all the others but that's not really-"

"And Kukai?" Utau didn't seem to notice the vaguely angry look Tadase was wearing.

"Yeah, and so is Yuiki-san but I really need to tell you guys-"

"Tadase-kun!" Amu threw her arms around her former boyfriend as tears poured from her eyes. Apparently Tadase had had enough.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" he yelled angrily, causing everyone to jump in shock and Amu to release him immediately. "Listen, she's coming right now and if we don't get Fujisaki-san out of here we're all going to die!"

Amu, slightly taken aback, nervously spoke up. "Wait, what? Who's coming right now, the killer? And what does Nagi have to do with this?"

"I can't explain yet but she's coming to get Fujisaki-kun and he needs to get out of here now!"

"But how did you get here anyway?" Ikuto asked, a look of confusion evident on his face. Tadase was kidnapped by a psychotic murderer, how could he simply escape from someone like that, and much less make it all the way to the school?

"I escaped when she was taking us into the school but-"

"Wait, taking you into the school?" Tadase's eyes widened at Nagihiko's words. Oh, he definitely didn't mean to say that. Now getting Nagihiko out of here would be impossible. "So Rima-chan's somewhere in the school?"

"But Fujisaki-kun it's really not in your best interest to go running around looking for her! It's exactly what _she_ wants you to do!"

"Who is _she_, Hotori-san? Who is the killer?" Kairi stared intensely into Tadase's eyes. The blonde blushed and fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I… can't say," Tadase muttered quietly, a sad look filling his face, "but it doesn't really matter right now. Fujisaki-kun needs to get out of here as soon as possible!"

"No," Nagihiko said stubbornly, his arms crossed over his chest as though his will was unbendable, "I'm not leaving without Rima-chan."

"Stupid," Tadase muttered, running his hands through his hair as he sank down into a chair, exhausted from the strain of the earlier escape and the whole kidnapping incident, "You're being so stupid."

"What?" Nagihiko asked, sure he misheard his friend, knowing such harsh words wouldn't ever come from his mouth.

"I said you're being fucking stupid!" Tadase screamed, looking up at Nagihiko with wild, rage-filled eyes. Everyone was quite taken aback, startled by the profanity leaving the usually gentle boy. Tadase struggled to his feet, his chest heaving as he breathed in deeply. "You don't think that I don't want to save them all? But we can't! All we can do now is make sure you're safe!"

"You don't understand! You don't have someone you love that's about to be killed!" Nagihiko shot back, his face livid with rage. Tadase's face fell.

"You think… that I don't… I, I do love… no, that's not the point! You have to leave! Leave the city, maybe even the country! Get out!" Tadase was frantic, his face filled with sadness and fear.

"I will not give her up." Nagihiko took a few steps backwards, his eyes meeting Tadase's. He glanced at his friend's uncertainly, their nervous glances urging him to listen to Tadase, to try and get out.

With one final look at his friends he turned and ran, shoving aside his confused classmates as he shot through the open door. Tadase lunged forward, trying to stop him, but stopped as he fell into a fit of intense coughing. When he finally got ahold of himself, he straightened up and glared at the door.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Tadase moaned to himself, kicking one of the chairs across the classroom, which caused him to let out yet another weak cough. He grabbed his hair in his hands, straining to figure out a way to get out of this situation.

"Okay you four," Tadase turned to face his remaining friends, who were staring at him with quite shocked looks on their faces, after a minute or so of thinking "need to get out of the school. Go home, and don't come back. She doesn't really want you, so you'll only get hurt unnecessarily by being here."

"I can't just leave someone I love to die!" Utau insisted, her face frantic with tears leaking down her cheeks, "Do you understand what position we're in?"

"Yes, of course I do! But this is unnecessary! I'll take care of this! You all need to leave, and I'll find Fujisaki-kun and send him away and then I'll go back and get the others."

"So we're supposed to let you take care of this problem while we can't do anything at all to help?" Ikuto asked Tadase with a dark look on his face, he approached the younger boy and stared down at his head. "I love you, albeit not like what Nagi feels for Rima or Utau for Kukai, but I still love you. I'm not going to let you run off and get yourself killed while I just sit around and do nothing."

"I… fine," Tadase gave in, his head pounding from the stress and his weakness. This wasn't going to work. They couldn't just listen to him. They were signing their own death sentence. As desperately as Tadase wanted to stop them, he knew he was just wasting valuable time as he tried to do so. "Just don't try to do anything stupid."

Tadase looked straight into Ikuto's eyes. "Don't try to be a hero."

(Break.)

Nagihiko ran down the school's hallway, his mind desperately reeling as he tried to figure out where exactly he would find Rima, and possibly the others. He had caused her to get kidnapped, and now he was going to make up for it. He was going to save her if it killed him, because without her he was nothing.

The other day, when he confessed, he shouldn't have said "I think I kind of love you."

No, he should have said, "I really, truly love you more than life itself."

If only. Nagihiko had so many regrets, so many frustrations. At some point, he had even wished that he had been kidnapped as well, so that he could protect Rima, but of course that hadn't happened. Rima was all alone, and Nagihiko was her last hope.

Nagihiko stopped running as something caught his wrist. He spun around, stumbling around a bit as he saw a tan hand reaching through the partially open doorway of a janitor's closet. What the hell…?

"Let go!" Nagihiko yelled, frantically jerking away from his attacker, desperately trying to pry off the fingers gripping his wrist tightly. Was someone trying to kill him now?

"What, you're not happy to see me, Fujisaki?"

Wha- Would wonders never cease?

Nagihiko knew that Kukai would exit the closet before he actually did. Nagihiko's eyes were wide, gazing up at his taller friend, who he had presumed was dead just minutes earlier. And if he hadn't have known better, he might have still thought he was dead. His body was badly beaten, and blood-soaked bandages were wrapped around his head, where his baseball bat wound surely was. His bright green eyes were no longer happy and full of life, but were rather dark and cruel. His lips, instead of forming his usual energetic smile, were pressed into a thin smirk.

"Souma-kun?" Nagihiko's eyes darted to the right just in time to see Yaya trudge out from the same closet, a smirk on her face as well. She no longer was childlike at all, but rather had depressed eyes, bruised skin, and a defeated aura. "Yuiki-chan?"

"Why hello, Nagi-tan," Yaya said, in a surprisingly cold and serious voice. She grinned cruelly at him, her teeth protruding from beneath her lips. "You've been quite a bad boy."

Although he had supposed it before, he now realized what was going on; Yaya and Kukai were being possessed just as the girls and Mashiro-san had been. They were going to kill him. And Tadase… was he possessed as well? Was he going to kill the others now that he was gone? Was he going to lead them straight into a trap?

Yaya grabbed Nagihiko's other hand and twisted it painfully behind him, pulling his body towards her. Her lips, now inches below his ear, whispered harshly, "You've forgotten."

Kukai's face dropped down so it was right in front of Nagihiko's, close enough that if someone walked in on them they would have thought that they were kissing, and whispered, "And now you're going to pay for your crime."

And then the world went black.

A/N: Ahaha. I couldn't help but slip in those slight Takuto moments. Oh god, I love that couple. xD  
>As always I appreciate your reviews! :3<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

Only one thought was able to course through Tadase's mind as he and his friends walked through the school, searching for Nagihiko, their abducted friends, and the killer: 'This is definitely not a good situation.'

He definitely hadn't wanted to endanger the lives of Amu and Ikuto, or Utau and Kairi for that matter, but they were stubborn. He knew he should have expected this, though; they'd never let their friends run off and risk their lives without getting involved as well. If he had been able to get them out of there, then everything would be fine. But he had slipped up by saying that the others were in the school, and now Nagihiko was running off to who knows where for his death while his other friends, who should be saved, were getting involved with something they didn't have to.

And himself… what was he planning on doing? Could he save the others? Maybe, if he gave himself up; she might accept that. But Nagihiko was surely gone if they didn't find him quickly.

Most importantly, could he stop her?

No, Tadase wouldn't think about that. Because if he did, he knew the answer would definitely be no. No, he couldn't even think about stopping her, because stopping her meant killing her, and Tadase couldn't kill her.

Tadase couldn't let _anyone_ kill her.

He didn't understand how she was doing what she was doing, but he knew why she was doing it. Although he knew it was cruel and wrong, he didn't want to stop her, he just wanted to save his friends. He understood her rage, her feelings of betrayal. He just couldn't let her get her revenge on people he loved.

"So, would you mind telling us exactly what's going on?" Utau asked Tadase as they quickly walked throughout the halls of the school, searching for something only the boy would be able to recognize. He was leading the way, passing by every classroom without even glancing inside of it. He wasn't really headed anywhere, but yet he knew that she was not in any of those rooms. He could feel it.

"I told you, I can't," Tadase said solemnly, not knowing what would happen if he told them the truth. Well, he supposed they would find out soon enough anyway, unless they could find Nagihiko. But he already knew that Nagihiko was almost certainly lost.

"Oh!" Tadase stopped and spun around, turning to face the others as though he suddenly remembered something. "You guys should all send your guardian characters away."

"Why?" Amu asked, frowning in confusion. In a life or death situation, wouldn't the guardian characters be of good use? They would probably need them in the upcoming events.

"As long as you have a whole heart's egg, you can't be possessed," Tadase stopped for a second, looking off into the distance thoughtfully, "or so it seems." Why else would he have not been possessed? The others, the girls, had had their heart's eggs destroyed, and they had all been possessed by _her _in turn. Why else would she destroy character-less eggs, except for if this was the case?

"So your egg was crushed because she wanted to posses you?" Ikuto's mouth was dry. Tadase had basically just announced to them all that the killer was controlling him. His egg was destroyed, and those that had been with the killer without their heart's egg were possessed. It didn't take much deductive reasoning to put that one together.

Tadase's mouth fell into a small circle, his eyes widening slightly. "Kiseki was… he was killed as well?"

"You didn't know? I... I saw his crushed egg," Ikuto replied, guilty that the news of his guardian character's death had come out so casually. If he had known that Tadase didn't know of Kiseki's death, then he would never have brought it up.

"Then she can posses me as well?" Tadase touched his chest gently, as though expecting someone else's torso to be there. If she wasn't possessing him while she had the ability to do so, did that mean….

Tadase's eyes grew even wider, and he quickly turned and continued walking, coughing a bit as he did so. No, he wouldn't think of it. No no no. It would just make everything so much harder for him.

"We should keep looking," he muttered quietly, not waiting to hear his friends' responses. Not wanting to discuss with them what might be going on.

After all, he already knew the truth.

(Break.)

The killer glared down at her latest victim, deciding what exactly her course of action was. She could follow the original plan, up to some extent, but now that Tadase was gone something had changed. Sure, he had run off when she was distracted (she had never expected him to leave her, especially like this,) but yet she could tell that he was going to come back. And chances were, when he returned he would bring the others with him. Maybe she could switch things up a little, make everyone respect her, and get Tadase back. And maybe then she could convince Amu to join her as well.

Yes, that seemed like a very good plan. Sure, she might be at a risk this way but… the killer glanced over at the boxes she had forced the others to carry into the gymnasium.

At least she would go out with a bang.

"Prepare him for me," the killer said harshly, throwing a bag at the silent Kukai. He caught it in his arms lazily and nodded, only vaguely aware of what was going on. Beside him Yaya rocked back and forth unsteadily, seemingly too tired to stand. They were completely trashed, both from the attack and from being possessed for such an amount of time. They wouldn't last much longer.

The killer sighed; she was running out of time. If the others didn't come soon then she would not be able to carry out her new plans to the fullest. Of course there were plenty of other ways she could do this, but none were so exciting as what she had prepared.

"Oh, and make sure to tie the little bitch up as I told you earlier," The killer ordered, waving her hand at the bruised and bloody Rima. She smirked at the sight, and turned away quickly, strolling across the room towards the door. "Things are about to get interesting."

(Break.)

"She's in the gym," Tadase didn't know what made him so sure of this fact, but he had stopped in the middle of the hall and said so with a completely certain look on his face.

"What? How do you know?" Utau asked, almost hitting Tadase's back as he stopped abruptly. She was still slightly wary of the chance Tadase was being possessed. Sure, his reactions earlier had seemed rather genuine, but the killer probably could have easily faked it. Was it possible that he was leading them right into a trap?

"I don't know," Tadase admitted, somewhat sheepishly. He turned around to face the others, a worried look in his eyes. "You guys don't need to come with me. I can do this by myself."

"Tadase-kun, my best friends are in there, except for Nagi, who know that I think about it is probably in there too. I'll do whatever it takes to help them." Amu said, causing Tadase to smile a bit.

"Yeah, that's what I expected. You know, you guys are really good friends." Stupid though, was what Tadase thought. So very stupid.

Amu smiled back at him, before the group turned and headed towards the gym. The halls of the school were unusually quiet,especially considering it was the middle of the day. Their footsteps echoed loudly into their ears, not helping to settle their nerves at all. Occasionally Tadase would cough, reminding the others that he wasn't quite as okay as he claimed to be.

Upon reaching the door to the gym Tadase, rather reluctantly, reached up and grabbed the handle. His heart thundered in his ears, not knowing what exactly he would find inside, or what would quite happen. Would he be able to save everyone? Probably not. If it came down to it, who would he save? Who would he give up? Would he end up dead? Would _she_?

And, would he become possessed as well? Would he be forced to kill Amu or Ikuto, Kukai or Utau? Could he stop himself if it came down to that?

After a moment's hesitation, in which everyone held their breath, Tadase opened the door, and slowly stepped inside. He was shocked to find that nobody was there.

Tadase ran inside the gym, the others quickly following behind him. Where was she? He had been so positive that she was in there, but there was nobody in front of him! Just the bleachers on the opposite side of the room, and a few large, wooden boxes.

The door the group had just entered from was suddenly shut with a loud, echoing slam. Tadase spun around, his heart racing, to see _her_ leaning casually against the wall, her hand placed firmly on the door and a smirk on her face.

"Why hello, Tadase-kun. It's nice of you to return to me so quickly!" The killer said, her voice sweet yet oddly deadly, as she pushed her body off of the wall and slowly sashayed over towards the others. She was currently in yet another girl's body, this one tall with short black hair and brown eyes.

"I… do you have him?" Tadase's friends were surprised to see that he was unable to met the killer's eyes. He was staring down at her feet instead, his face the faintest shade of pink.

"Oh, Tadase-kun! You figured it out, didn't you? Good for you!" the killer clasped her hands together, seemingly genuinely happy at this. After a moment, she dropped her hands down once more and shot Tadase a serious look. "Yeah, I have him."

"Then why haven't you already…?" Tadase trailed off, his eyes slowly raising to look into the killer's face. She gave him a cruel smile.

"I figured it would be more exciting this way," the killer said as she did a little skip, reaching the group. She patted Amu on the head as she her, causing her to flinch and Ikuto's fists to clinch. "Isn't that right, Amu-chan?"

Amu was unable to respond, but simply shivered uncomfortably as the killer traced her cheek with her short fingers. The killer let out a sad sigh after a moment, and pulled her hand away from the pink-haired girl. "You're so scared. Well, I suppose you never were a fan of scary things."

"How do you know that?" Amu whispered, her eyes wide as she took a few steps away from the killer. She grabbed onto Ikuto's arm, desperately wishing that the killer would leave her alone.

The killer smiled. "Oh Amu-chan, I know _everything_ about you."

"Like, you have four guardian characters, because you are very uncertain of yourself and who you want to be. You are very wishy-washy when it comes to love, once having crushes on Tadase, Ikuto, and Kukai all at once. You are pretty skilled at dancing, although you usually end up spazzing so much while doing so that you look like a fool. And you hate it when people come up from behind you-" the killer walked up behind Amu, who jerked forward, "out of nowhere to say hello."

"Wait a second," Amu muttered, her eyebrows furrowing as she thought about who had always done that to her. No, it couldn't be. It was impossible. There was no way.

"And Tsukiyomi-kun. I happen to know you like pinning down poor defenseless elementary school girls in school kitchens," The killer said coolly, as she strolled behind the tall boy and grinned up at him. He looked back at her uncertainly. How had she found out about that? The only ones there at that time were him and Amu and… No, that was impossible!

"And Utau-chan! You can't tolerate cheap shots, I believe. That's why I made sure to honor my agreement with Souma-kun and spared your life." The killer stopped and smirked at her. "I was very happy to see that you got over your brother complex."

The killer walked right past Kairi and back towards Tadase, giving him the tall boy a coy look. "And I'm surprised you didn't already figure out who I was, Sanjo-kun. I've heard you're very smart, right? But yet you can't piece it all together?"

The killer stopped and turned to the group, a smug look on her face. "I left you guys so many clues, didn't I? Ah, and even Nagihiko couldn't figure it out. Only Tadase-kun did, that smart smart boy." The killer wrapped her arms around Tadase's neck, leaning into him playfully. He just gulped and looked to to the side, unable to push her away, and truthfully not wanting to. "So, who am I? Any guesses?"

Nobody responded. They all stared at the killer in silence, their minds reeling with a thought that they would never allow themselves to consider. It couldn't be, not jut because they didn't want it to be true, but because it was physically impossible. It couldn't be her, it couldn't be. There was no way that it could be her. But yet, it _was_.

"Aw, Amu-chan. I think I had too much faith in you. I can't believe you actually forgot your best friend, just like all the others did," the killer pouted, letting go of Tadase to cross her arms over her chest.

"You mean, it really is you?" Amu asked, her eyes growing wide. Her heart was thundering in her ears, and a nauseating feeling was beginning to settle in her stomach. It couldn't be. The one that had killed so many and had kidnapped her friends…

"Of course! It is I…" the killer grinned at the kids, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet excitedly. In the group's minds' eyes she changed from the tomboyish girl she currently was to a delicate, slender figure. Her long indigo hair flowed down her back, tied up in a single red ribbon. It was someone they knew well. Someone they saw everyday. It was...

"Fujisaki Nadeshiko!"

A/N: I feel like most of you saw this coming. -_-"  
>Whatever. Anyways… there's only like four or so chapters left, so I have a favor to ask~<br>I know some of you have already done this, but on my profile I have summaries of a few stories. I would appreciate it if you took the poll there, choosing the stories that you would like to see me write next, or you can drop me a pm, or whatever you want. :P  
>Thanks for reading! Review if you want to~<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

"It is I, Fujisaki Nadeshiko!"

Everyone stared at the killer, pure shock filling their faces. There was no way that _Nadeshiko_ could have done this! Nadeshiko wasn't even a real person!

"But Nadeshiko… Nadeshiko doesn't exist! Nagihiko told us so!" Amu protested, gazing at her former best friend with wide eyes. The killer sighed, shifting her wait from one foot to the other.

"Well, not exactly. It didn't start out that way, but it is true that the Nadeshiko you knew was just Nagihiko dressing as a woman. _She_ technically doesn't exist, but what if I were to tell you that Nagihiko did have a twin sister, a long time ago?"

Amu was horribly confused, as were the others. After a moment, Kairi spoke up, "So Nagihiko used to have a twin sister named Nadeshiko, who is presumably you, am I right?" The killer nodded, and Kairi continued, "But what does had mean? You're standing there right now, are you not? Wouldn't he still be your twin?"

"Ah, but the thing is, I'm not exactly alive right now. You may have noticed that my form keeps changing, right? Maybe you've already figured out that I've been the one kidnapping the girls and possessing their corpses?" the group nodded, so Nadeshiko continued. "Well, back when Nagihiko and I were of three years of age, a fire spread throughout our house during the middle of the night. It easily consumed the wooden interior, and spread towards the room that he and I shared. Of course, being of such a young age, the two of us had no idea what to do, and simply cried and screamed for help."

"Eventually our father came to save us, but unfortunately by that time the roof was beginning to cave in on our room. The flames were surrounding us, and he only had the time to save one of us. I'll never forget the face Nagihiko made as he stared at me. Even as a child, he was aware of the situation. He stared at me, fear and sadness reflected through his eyes, and being the older sibling I let him go first, knowing that it was my responsibility. Of course, soon after my father pulled Nagihiko from the room a flaming piece of wood fell onto my head. I remember staring up at it and screaming before everything faded to black. I was killed in order to save my brother's life."

"So you're saying that you died? Then how are you living now?" Utau asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm getting there," Nadeshiko said, waving a hand at the blonde dismissively. She took a few steps and cleared her throat before continuing. "Anyway, my family was deeply saddened at my loss, and although he was going to be allowed to live as a boy, Nagihiko was forced to take on the role of a woman in order to honor me, using his dancing as a cover to do so. Eventually he had gotten so into the act that part of my soul had begun to reside in his body as well. I was alive again. It was such a perfect arrangement." Nadeshiko smiled fondly at the memory, before a frown appeared on her face. "Until he got stubborn, that is."

"Nagihiko decided he wanted to be his true self, and not the girl he was forced to act as. He stopped cross-dressing and forgot all about his twin sister. Over the years the piece of me residing inside of him grew fainter and fainter, until finally I was completely expelled from him just a few weeks ago. With nowhere to go, I made a deal with the devil and secured a new corpse. I went on my way to get back to my old body, before I realized that my new one was slowly rotting. What better way to fix this then to secure another one? So I found a teenaged girl and killed her, before putting myself into her body."

"This is a little hard to believe," Kairi muttered, scratching his head curiously as he tried to make everything said to him sink in; it was impossible. It honestly just seemed like a giant joke. Reincarnation? Nadeshiko's soul combining with Nagihiko's? Making a deal with the devil? What was this, a bad episode of Black Butler?

"You'd better believe it," Nadeshiko said harshly, eying Kairi with a look that plainly said "or else." Kairi didn't respond.

"Wait, so what about Mashiro-san, and Rima and the others? What do they have to do with this? And where are they, anyway?" Amu asked, her eyes darting around the room hopefully, as though expecting to see them jump out from nowhere.

"Oh, well, I wanted to get revenge. It was their fault I was killed, after all. They stopped believing in me and made me die. Of course you still held onto me until the very end, which is why I decided to spare you, Amu-chan."

"But Rima? She never even knew Nadeshiko!" Amu protested. The killer frowned.

"Yes, but she's what gave Nagihiko the final push to completely give me up. He loves her, and wanted her to see him as a man. So, she's what truly killed me in the end," Nadeshiko said unhappily. She brightened after a moment, though, which immediately made the others realize something horrible was about to happen.

"Speaking of Rima-chan… Oh Souma-kun! Yaya-chan! Why don't you bring out the dear guest of honor now?" she called smugly. Utau's heart thundered in her chest. She would get to see Kukai again! Possessed or not, she would get to see him again!

The door to the supply closet opened, and out walked Kukai and Yaya, dragging something behind them. It took everyone several moments to realize that what they were dragging was not a thing, but a human. More precisely, Rima, her arms and legs bound by ropes, ropes which the two were using to drag her across the floor.

Nobody could utter a word. It was such a horrible sight, seeing two of their best friends cruelly dragging Rima along, not even caring about her health one bit. Utau was sickened, suddenly wishing that she hadn't seen Kukai again like this. She didn't want to see him so unlike himself, with blank eyes and a lifeless face, not caring about anyone else. It was absolutely horrible.

For a short while the group wondered where exactly Kukai and Yaya were taking Rima, as they weren't exactly headed towards them...

It was then that they noticed the stands that were usually used to hold up the volleyball nets.

"Wait, you're going to tie her up to that? Why?" Ikuto asked, confused. What exactly was the killer planning on doing? She was going to torture or kill Rima or something? But why like this? She wanted to make an example out of her or something?

"Oh don't worry, I'm not going to kill her…" the killed said as Kukai and Yaya began tying the ropes onto the stands, hoisting the small girl up into the air. Her head fell forward uselessly, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around her. "Yet."

Amu's mouth went dry. "Wait, what? You're going to kill Rima?"

"Of course, Amu-chan. It was the plan all along," Nadeshiko said with a grin, walking over to the bound girl slowly, her hips swaying casually as she did so, "But of course I can't do it like this! Where's the fun in that? After all, not only do I want Rima to pay for what she did, I want Nagihiko to suffer as well!"

Amu didn't like where this was going one bit.

"Oi, wake up!" Nadeshiko snapped at Rima. She didn't move though, seeing as she was unconscious, which caused Nadeshiko's glare to harden. She smacked her face a few times, before punching her hard in the stomach.

"Stop that!" Amu screamed, running forward to stop her former best friend from hurting her new best friend. Ikuto grabbed her as she made to run to Rima's aide and held her back. Amu struggled to escape his grasp. "Ikuto! Let me go!"

"Do you want to die? This isn't a game, Amu. She's a murderer. She will kill you if she has to!" Ikuto said harshly, causing Amu to freeze a bit. It was true, Nadeshiko was a murderer. Amu hadn't been seeing her as one since she learned her identity, but she had killed countless girls and Rima's mother. She had kidnapped and beaten her "best friends." She probably wouldn't hesitate to kill Amu as well

Amu slackened a bit, and Ikuto seemed to feel as though it would be safe to release her and did so, although Amu didn't really move far from him.

"Nadeshiko-san, don't you think this is a little extreme?" Tadase asked, taking small steps towards the enraged girl. Nadeshiko glared at him before smacking Rima once more.

"Not at all; I had to experience much more pain thanks to this little bitch. Do you know what it's like to have your soul ripped from body after body? Its very excruciating, I'll let you know," Nadeshiko punching Rima's stomach once again, causing the girl to cough a bit as her eyes blinked open. She looked up at the group in front of her long enough to note everyone who was present, and then let her head fall forward once more, having no strength to hold it up. She had been so badly beaten the last few days she was already half gone. She couldn't care less about anything else, not for her being taken somewhere else of her friends' presences, but simply just the pain, the pain coursing through every inch of her body relentlessly.

"Good morning Rima-chan! I trust you had a nice nap," Nadeshiko said, her voice sickeningly sweet. Rima stared at her through glazed over eyes, not knowing how to respond. Nadeshiko sighed and cupped the side of her face. "Ah, why are you so depressed for? Maybe you want to see your lovely little Nagihiko again, huh?"

At once, Rima was responsive again. Her eyes wide and frantic as she thrashed around in her bindings, screaming as loudly as she could, "No! Not Nagihiko! Don't hurt him! Anyone but him!"

Nadeshiko looked back at the group, giggling happily as she pointed up at the flailing girl. "She's been doing this whenever I mention Nagihiko for days! Isn't it funny?"

"Hilarious," Ikuto said in a dead-pan voice, but Nadeshiko just giggled more, watching Rima sob as she attempted to jerk free from her restraints.

"I guess she doesn't understand that I would never hurt my own body, huh? Not if I'm going to return to it," Nadeshiko said as she strolled past Rima before smiling up at her once more.

"Wait, return back to your body? You mean, you're going to take over Nagihiko like you did with Yaya and Kukai?" Amu asked.

Nadeshiko shook her head. "I thought you would have noticed that something different is happening to them then the others, but then again you are rather dense. I think Tadase has a theory, right? Why don't you ask him?"

The group all turned and stared at Tadase as Rima sobbed loudly. Tadase, slightly hesitant, spoke quietly. "Well, um, I'm not sure if I'm right or not, but I believe that Nadeshiko-san is simply controlling Souma-kun and Yuiki-san's actions, but does not have any of her soul in them, unlike what she did to Mashiro-san and the girls. I assume she is going to put her soul into Fujisaki-kun's body instead of just controlling him."

"Oh you're so smart, Tadase-kun!" Nadeshiko said happily, grinning at the uncertain boy. "And do you know how I'm doing this?"

"By replacing their hearts eggs with something else?"

"Good job! You deserve a gold star for that!" Nadeshiko said, clapping her hands together a few times before smirking at the others.

"Wait, where's Kukai and Yaya?" Utau suddenly asked, glancing at where they had stood moments earlier. The group spun around, only seeing Rima hanging there, sobbing hysterically. Had the two left when the group was distracted? Nadeshiko giggled from where she stood a few meters away.

"Oh, I sent them to go get my poor twin brother, just like Rima wanted." Nadeshiko turned to the crying girl once more. "Isn't that right, sweetheart? Didn't you want me to bring your darling Nagihiko here?"

"No! Don't!" Rima screamed writhing back and forth as Nadeshiko laughed.

"That never gets old," Nadeshiko said rather sadistically, grinning at Tadase, who gave her a sad look in return.

"You know, you don't have to do this," Tadase said, his voice weak, even though he was trying so hard to be strong, "We can think of something else, you don't have to do this."

"What else can I do? Keep killing girls and taking their bodies? Isn't that much worse? And besides, Tadase-kun, wouldn't you like me better in my own body?" Nadeshiko batted her eyelashes flirtatiously as Tadase blushed, before laughing. "Besides, this is more about revenge then anything else. It doesn't matter if I die as long as Rima and Nagihiko die with me."

"But Nadeshiko, you are part of Nagihiko! And Nagihiko loves Rima, so you should too!" Amu urged the girl, who frowned at her.

"You know what this ordeal has taught me, Amu-chan? I learned that as your heart breaks time and time again, and you struggle to mend the shattered pieces, something is lost each time, and in the end there's nothing left to fix." Nadeshiko frowned at the pink-haired girl, "I've lost the ability to love anyone, much less her, just as everyone lost the ability to love me. Tadase, Kukai, Yaya, you, and finally even my own twin brother. There's no one left to love me, so there's nobody left for me to love."

"Bring him out!" Nadeshiko yelled towards the same supply closet Rima had been drug from a few minutes earlier. The door slowly creaked open, and Nadeshiko said before turning to face it, "No matter how much you try to deny it you really can't, the truth is unavoidable after all. And now that its known there is no going back... the future is set in stone, and I _will _get my vengeance."

A/N: Nadeshiko is just so sadistic here. -_-" But her OOC-ness is okay, because the Nadeshiko we all knew was mostly just Nagihiko. But if you have any unanswered questions about something relating to the killer, please ask in a review and I'll answer either next chapter or in a pm.  
>Oh, and I feel like telling you what inspired this story. You will either hate it, or love it... The World God only Knows. Yeah... the show about the video game obsessed kid. Hahaha, I was watching episode eight and for some reason the idea for his story popped into my head. Yeah, I bet you've lost any respect you had for me. xD<br>Anyway, thanks for reading! Review if you want to. :)


	14. Chapter 14

Kukai and Yaya slowly walked out of the closet, Nagihiko firmly held between the two of them. But yet he wasn't dressed as Nagihiko, he was dressed as Nadeshiko. His hair was pulled up into her usual high ponytail, and a lilac kimono hung loosely on his shoulders, the neck dipping low enough so that you could tell by his toned chest that he was a male. It had been put on him incorrectly, they supposed, by the controlled Kukai and Yaya, who couldn't think straight, leaving it appearing very messy. If Nadeshiko had had the time she would have dressed him herself, but then again everything was rather last minute. She would have to make due with what she had. After all, she should have plenty of time to make Nagihiko into the woman that she wants him to be.

Nagihiko's face was rather dark, a dejected look in his eyes. He wasn't possessed, so he knew exactly what was happening around him, he knew exactly what he had caused. He met his friend's eyes and smiled slightly, trying to reassure them that he was alright, even though he wasn't, and he knew that they knew this as well. He was going to die, or rather not die, but be controlled.

He should have listened to Tadase. He shouldn't have tried to be the hero. And now… now Rima was definitely going to die.

Limping towards the group, Nagihiko met his counterpart's eyes. He had heard every word from inside the closet, Nadeshiko had made sure of that. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten something so simple, so obvious. His own sister. He had forgotten his own sister. He deserved every bit of this pain, but yet Rima did not. Kukai and Yaya did not. It was his fault. They didn't deserve to suffer from his mistake. But yet he had no choice.

"Oh my dear brother, it's simply been much too long!" Nadeshiko said, her voice quite over-exaggerated. Kukai shoved Nagihiko hard, knocking him to his knees so that it was almost as though he was bowing down to his sister.

"Nagihiko! No! Somehow help him! Get him away from here!" Rima screamed, jerking wildly in her bindings, uselessly trying to save Nagihiko from his sure to come death. Nagihiko almost laughed. After so long she had remained adamant that she hated him, only know, with her sanity lost, would she show any affection for him whatsoever.

"Rima-chan, I'm sorry I failed to protect you," Nagihiko muttered, his voice weak, his eyes downcast, not able to meet with Rima's. At this point he would do anything to save her, but there was nothing at all he could do. It was much too late, and he knew this. He knew that it was certain that Rima would be killed.

"Nagi! No!" Rima screamed, tears splattering to the ground as she tried to escape. She no longer thought of anything but him, not even the pain coursing through her body. Nothing else.

"Oh, poor little baby, failing his love." Nadeshiko said, her voice sweet, yet laced with poison. She gave Nagihiko a sympathetic look, before it darkened into a glare.

"Shut your mouth," Nadeshiko snapped kicking Nagihiko hard in the stomach. He coughed as he doubled over, clutching himself as he struggled to breath. Rima's screams echoed in his ears, reminding him that he deserved this pain, and that he couldn't resist.

Nadeshiko slowly bent over and grabbed Nagihiko's head, dragging it up towards her's. "It's time for us to become one once again, my lovely brother."

It was now or never. Nagihiko had to say it, he had to now or else it would never come out. "I love you, Rima. Don't ever forget that."

Rima's eyes widened. The way he had said it had been so final, so absolute. He _was_ going to die. "No!"

Nadeshiko leaned forward, capturing Nagihiko's lips with her own. Everyone blinked nervously at the two. What was…?

Nagihiko briefly struggled to escape from her grip but failed, his body to weak and his sister's too strong. He felt his mouth being pried open by her tongue and tried to resist but was unable to. As the kiss deepened, Nagihiko felt the world around him fade away. Everything grew blurry, the edges of his vision fading away to black. Rima's screams slowly disappeared, silence consuming his being.

The last thing he saw was Rima screaming desperately for him, tears pouring down her face, yanking on her bindings so hard blood was beginning to appear on her wrists, before he was gone.

Nadeshiko's body went limp before it fell to the floor, the thump it made echoing through the now silent room. Rima relaxed in her bindings, panting slightly as she struggled to comprehend what was happening.

Nagihiko doubled over once more, his fingers gripping at the floor. His face obscured by his long hair, he let out a few low chuckles as he slowly ran his hands down his body. After a moment he threw back his head and laughed. He laughed in a crazy and frantic way, his eyes wide and excited as he looked up at the bound girl and then in turn all of his friend's surrounding him. After a moment he climbed to his feet and kicked the body Nadeshiko had been possessing, laughing even more as it rolled a few feet away.

"Nagihiko?" Amu asked uncertainly, peering up at the boy with uneasy eyes. She felt sick to her stomach, her fingers fumbling with the fabric of Ikuto's shirt, trying desperately to get ahold of something solid. Nagihiko grinned back at her, his brilliant white teeth somewhat horrifying.

"Nagihiko is gone, my dear Amu-chan! Now all that's left is me!" Nadeshiko threw her arms out triumphantly, grinning at the others as though she has accomplished a remarkable feat. They just took a few nervous steps back, fear reflected in their eyes.

They were scared of her…

Well, Nadeshiko had wanted that, right? She had wanted them to repent! She wanted them to cower at her feet and beg forgiveness! She wanted them to be scared of her power!

Nadeshiko adjusted her kimono, tying it more securely so that it wasn't as saggy as it had been, before walking slowly back to the group. They all stared at her uncertainly, longing to get away but not having the nerve to run. She approached Tadase, wrapping an arm around the boys neck. Amu squeaked something out, before shrinking back into Ikuto's arm.

"Ne, Tadase-kun, don't you think I look nice like this?" Nadeshiko asked, her voice smooth as she stroked his cheek gently.

"Y-yes, you look very nice," Tadase muttered, trying not to think about the feeling of Nadeshiko's fingers on his skin.

Nadeshiko grinned as the traced the vein on his neck, causing the boy to shiver. "You know, there was a reason I took it easy on you, why I didn't posses you as well. Can you think of it?" Nadeshiko leaned forward and whispered into his ear, gently brushing the edge of it, "Can you?"

"I…" Tadase cut himself off, unable to say the rest of the sentence. He looked into Nadeshiko's eyes, trying to say what was on his mind but not being able to.

Nadeshiko sighed before turning away from him. "I guess it's time for me to finish my plan, right?

"Darling, I'd say that I'm sorry to do this, but that is such a lie I and I really don't want to lie," Nadeshiko said to Rima as she leaned behind the the stands holding Rima on the air and bent over to pick something up. She spun it around a few times, before walking in front of Rima, holding her signature naginata in her hands.

"Oh god," Amu whispered, her eyes wide as she realized what was about to happen; Nadeshiko was going to kill Rima with her naginata. But Nagihiko… was he still in there? Was his soul buried somewhere deep inside his body? Could he come back into control?

"Isn't this great? Killed by the one you love the most! It's even better for my darling brother; he's killing the one _he_ loves the most! The perfect form of revenge!" Nadeshiko twirled the naginata around her head a few times, before aiming it straight at Rima's chest.

"No," Rima gasped straining her arms as she fought to escape from the ropes tying her down. She squirmed back and forth, trying desperately to get away.

"Nadeshiko, don't do this," Tadase said, his voice strong and clear. Nadeshiko, sort of surprised, looked back at him.

"And why she I do that?" she asked, the naginata still pointed at Rima's chest. Tadase opened his mouth but no more words could come out; how was he supposed to convince someone this far gone that she was wrong? What could he possibly tell her that would change her mind?

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ikuto, who Nadeshiko had her back turned to, pull a smile knife from his pocket and slowly walk up behind her. Tadase's heart thundered in his ears. He was going to kill her, or at least injure her. He was going to hurt Nadeshiko! And even though he couldn't agree with Nadeshiko's actions, he was still adamant about one thing: he couldn't let anyone hurt her, no matter what.

Ikuto raised the knife, poised to drive it through Nadeshiko's back, but Tadase couldn't take it. He couldn't let Ikuto do this to her.

"No!" Tadase shouted, running forward frantically. For a second Nadeshiko expected Tadase to tackle her, but he just ran past her and shoved Ikuto back.

Ikuto fell to his back, looking up at Tadase with startled, angry eyes. "What the hell, Tadase!"

"Ikuto-nii-san…" Tadase said, his chest heaving as he met Ikuto's gaze, tears beginning to to fall from his pink eyes. His fists clenched as he muttered, "You can't hurt her."

And suddenly Ikuto got it.

Why Tadase was blushing so much around Nadeshiko. Why he let her touch him. Why he had told the others "I do love," before cutting himself short. And then why he had saved her…

"You're in love with Nadeshiko," Ikuto whispered quietly, his eyes wide as he met Tadase's teary gaze, said boy being the only one to hear him. Tadase froze, staring down at Ikuto with a shocked expression on his face. He _was_ in love with her, wasn't he?

Nadeshiko seemed rather pissed off, and a little pleased with herself, but mostly just angry. She had not expected one of them to have the nerve to try to attack her. This would not do. There was no more waiting, no more messing around. She would kill Rima immediately.

While everyone's attention was on the two boys, she smirked at Rima, her eyes full of rage. "No one should live if I am dead!"

Before anyone knew it, Nadeshiko was charging Rima. As she approached the girl she thrust her arm forward, the blade of the naginata launching itself towards the girl's chest. Rima jerked her body to the left, so that the blade didn't hit her straight one but rather cut her side. The shirt she was wearing slashed open to reveal a dark wound on her skin, blood dripping from it and in turn falling to the floor.

Everyone was silent, staring at Rima, who was panting and sobbing, and Nadeshiko, who had pulled the naginata back and was holding it in front of her still. Everyone was absolutely silent, terror enveloping them to the point in which they couldn't utter a single word. Until Amu screamed.

It was a horrible, shrieking type of scream, but Amu couldn't help it. She couldn't help it because her best friend, be it Nagihiko or Nadeshiko, had just stabbed Rima, and there was so much blood.

Nadeshiko was pleased by this scream, but angry that Rima had only taken a fraction of her first hit. She thrusted the naginata forward once more, this time further left, but she overshot and Rima was able to jerk her body to the right, only taking a bit of this blow as well. Nadeshiko screamed as she thrust the blade through Rima's right leg.

Rima finally screamed as well. The pain shooting from her leg was red hot, the blood dripping from her leg as Nadeshiko slowly and painstakingly pulled the blade from her flesh was sickening.

But Nadeshiko didn't stop; she just raised the naginata and prepared to strike again.

A/N: sorry my updates have been a little delayed, but I just had finals. But now I'm done (passed the whole year with straight A's!) and am officially… a junior! Yay!  
>But now I feel sort of old. -_-"<br>Anyway, please review! :3


	15. Chapter 15

Nagihiko wasn't sure what he had expected to happen after his body was possessed, but he became aware of the fact that he was still, well, there after a while. Frankly he was kind of atheist, so he had expected everything to sort of disappear as he died. But instead, there was just silence, and darkness.

"Nagihiko,"

Okay, maybe not silence. There was a small humming ringing throughout his ears, sort of like whispering voices. Was someone there?

At this point Nagihiko became aware of the fact that his eyes were closed, which may have contributed to the fact that darkness was consuming him. He slowly blinked his eyes open, instantly regretting it as the pitch blackness was turned to a bright white. He quickly shut his eyes once more, blinking several times before he could look at his surroundings.

Surrounding him was complete white. It was indescribable. There were no boundaries that Nagihiko could see; no walls, no ground, no ceiling or sky. Just white. On all sides, above or below, just white.

But yet, Nagihiko was certain he heard voices. He heard someone calling his name.

Nagihiko glanced down and he noticed that he was standing, well not exactly standing, as there was nothing to hold him up. He was simply floating in an upright position, although he was pretty sure his feet were applying pressure to something.

And he was naked.

Nagihiko tried to vocalize words to express his shock, but found himself unable. He tried to say something, anything, but couldn't. He tried to cough or hum or clear his throat but he couldn't do any of these things as well. He was completely mute in every way.

It was very terrifying, being absolutely silent. He couldn't scream for help or anything else. He couldn't say a word.

Nagihiko hesitantly moved his foot forward, trying to feel something solid. He was surprised when his bare skin met with something stable. He slowly put his weight onto this foot and lifted the next one, stepping forward rather reluctantly. It seemed like he was able to move, more or less, but he wasn't sure where exactly he was headed, much less where he was.

But the voices in the back of his mind were nagging him, telling him to keep moving forward.

So he did.

Nagihiko walked slowly, worried about falling down into the empty light and being forever lost, not knowing if such a fate awaited him even if he didn't fall. He wondered if he was dead and this was perhaps heaven or purgatory, believing it to be much to light to be hell.

After a short while he noticed something in the distance. It was small, and barely noticeable, but it was definitely something. He kept walking in this direction, trying to figure out what it was and if it would help him at all.

Eventually Nagihiko was close enough to see it, and realized it was something like a window. Tall and wide, it spanned out in front of him, some sort of picture reflected through it. Nagihiko frowned as he approached it cautiously, worried that it was something menacing.

Upon reaching it he gazed intently at it, trying to discern what he saw.

It was dark, inside the window. Not absolutely dark, but still darker than most places. After a few moment of careful examination Nagihiko realized that what he was looking at was a school gymnasium.

A gymnasium? Why did that sound somewhat familiar?

It seemed like the window was showing the scene through a person's eyes. He could see a few people standing there, looking at him uneasily. Nagihiko leaned forward and squinted his eyes, before realizing that he was looking at Amu, Ikuto, Utau, and Kairi. Why was he seeing this?

The person's mind he was viewing reached over and wrapped their arm's around a blonde's neck, presumably Tadase. They ran their fingers down his skin, and for some reason Nagihiko could feel a light pressure on his own. He shook it off; it was probably just his imagination.

The scene in front of him spun around, presumably as the one he was watching it through, moved. Nagihiko lost sight of the others, his eyes passing over Kukai and Yaya, who both looked rather disinterested, before locking on someone else. Rima.

Nagihiko tried to yell out her name, but of course was unable. She was bound to something, and tears were falling down her face. Something about that sight seemed familiar to him. It took a moment, but then he remembered. And suddenly he realized whose eyes he was looking through: his own. Or perhaps they were now Nadeshiko's eyes.

Nagihiko watched helplessly as Nadeshiko approached Rima, before she bent over and picked up her naginata. Oh god, who was she going to use that on? Somehow, Nagihiko already knew the answer to that question.

But what could he do? What could he possibly do? He was no longer in his body; he couldn't stop himself from killing her.

Wait, stop himself?

_He_ was going to kill Rima!

Nagihiko felt as though he would have thrown up if he was still in his body. He couldn't even comprehend the situation. _He_ would kill _Rima_? No! It couldn't possibly be true! He couldn't let that happen!

'Somebody kill me' Nagihiko begged, unable to vocalize the words, but simply thinking them over and over again in his head.

In the window Tadase charged past Nadeshiko, and after a moment the naginata rose to point at Rima. Nagihiko cried, tears falling down his cheeks, as he watched uselessly. What could he do when he didn't even know where he was, or what he was at this point?

And then the blade pierced Rima's skin.

It was almost as though Nagihiko had been stabbed as well, the pain in his heart was so intense. He gasped, no sound leaving his lips, as tears fell down into the never-ending sea of white. He opened his mouth to scream but no words could leave his lips.

Nagihiko moved to pound his fists against the window, and was surprised to find that it wasn't exactly solid, and that he could pass through it. This was it! His way out! He could save Rima!

The blade pierced Rima another time, but she remained quiet, tears leaking to he floor, and Nagihiko did as well, his livid screams not able to leave his lips. He struggled to force his body through the window, his hands clawing at the dark nothingness it held.

His body suddenly erupted with intense pain, every inch of him burning as though he were on fire. More silent screams left his lips as he tried to make it through darkness. It was so intense; not only was the pain crippling him, but the image of Rima's blood splattering the floor as Nadeshiko thrust the naginata through her leg was painful as well.

"No," he whispered, his hands clawing at nothingness as the darkness surrounded him on all sides until he felt something in his grip. His fingers tightened on a cold metallic handle, somehow knowing just what it was. And he wouldn't let it move forward again.

"No!"

(Break.)

"No!" Nadeshiko shouted, her eyes wide and frantic as the naginata was held back by herself. Everyone stared at her, confused beyond belief. Nadeshiko just stared down at her own hands, her eyes wide and her face frantic.

"Stop it, you useless bastard!" Nadeshiko screamed, spinning the naginata around so that it was facing her own chest instead of Rima's. Everyone stared at her, confusion evident in their eyes. What was she doing?

"I will not let you kill Rima," Nadeshiko said, her voice low and masculine, more like Nagihiko's than her own.

It took a second, but Utau realized why it sounded like Nagihiko... it _was_ Nagihiko.

"Is that, is that Nagihiko?" Utau whispered, her eyes wide.

But it wasn't just Nagihiko, because Nadeshiko was obviously still there, fighting back and screaming for him to stop.

"I think it's both of them," Kairi replied, his eyebrows furrowed from his confusion.

"Even at the cost of my own life," Nagihiko's voice said, cold and cruel. Nadeshiko's eyes widened even more, letting out a harsh scream as the blade pierced her stomach.

"No! You will not kill me again!" Nadeshiko screamed, pulling the naginata from her stomach with a fierce grimace before flinging it several yards away from her. Her hand desperately pressed against the wound in her abdomen, trying to hold black the blood gushing from her broken, pale skin.

"Bastard," Nadeshiko grimaced, looking down at the red covering her hand. He was going to sacrifice himself to save Rima… great. Just great….

He really did love her, didn't he? Nadeshiko supposed she should have taken this into consideration earlier.

Now she definitely would have to kill Rima, no matter what.

As soon as this thought crossed her mind, Nadeshiko felt her left hand being raised towards her face. No, he wasn't going to…!

The long fingernails began scratching at her neck, peeling off the skin bit by bit, agonizingly slowly. She could feel the flesh build up under nails, mixed with the blood that was dripping down underneath her kimono and dropping to the floor. She screamed, her voice coming out warbled and frantic. She was going to die! She was going to die!

Not again!

Nadeshiko pulled her right hand from her open wound, wincing as air hit it, but knowing that she had to stop Nagihiko from killing her. She gripped her left hand as it clawed at her skin, pulling it away from her neck desperately.

As this happened Ikuto grabbed Tadase and pulled him to the stands holding Rima up. "Untie her!" he urged, and Tadase nodded, rather reluctantly, and began untying the bound girl. He tried not to think about Nadeshiko lying on the floor, desperately clinging to life. Right now the only way Nagihiko would let her live was if Rima was safe, so he had to save Rima first.

Holding her own arm high above her head, Nadeshiko watched her blood drip to the floor and was filled with indescribable rage. And then she felt something inside of her, something beyond her control, slam her head against the floor… hard.

She screamed, the world spinning as a pounding filled her head. From above she could see Rima, somehow untied, rub her wrists desperately.

That was it!

"Kill them! Kill them all! Kill every last one of them!" Nadeshiko screamed, her voice muffled into the floor as she struggled to sit upright. She met eyes with Rima, and smirked. "Kill your lover, Rima darling."

And suddenly, as Rima's eyes went dark and her posture changed, Ikuto really wished he hadn't untied the short girl. Especially when she reached down and picked up the discarded naginata.

But yet, he couldn't be preoccupied by that because both Kukai and Yaya were walking towards the other two sane ones, weapons held in their hands as well.

"Ne, Kairi-kun, you want to play a game with me?" Yaya said, her voice harsher than her words would have indicated. She twirled an knife on her fingers before pointing it at him, giggling a little as she did so.

"Yaya-senpai," Kairi whispered, inching back nervously as the girl walked drunkenly towards him, her empty hand dangling uselessly at her side as she held her weapon out in front of her. She grinned at him, but there was no happiness in her grin whatsoever.

And then she dove towards him, the knife coming closer and closer to his chest until… Kairi dodged her hit and punched her right in the side of the face.

Yaya cried out as she spun around, wielding the knife to stab him, but Kairi was quicker. He wrapped his own hands around her's and tugged on the knife, trying to get it out of his grip. Yaya grimaced at him as she tugged uselessly on the knife, but Kairi had more upper-arm strength than her so he easily rotated it around so that the blade was facing her.

"Don't make me do this," Kairi whispered, gazing into Yaya's eyes with uncertainty and fear, not wanting to kill the girl he liked so much, but still placing his own life above her's. He wasn't going to die either.

Yaya tried to tug the knife out of Kairi's arm, which was a huge mistake on her part; he simply let go of the handle. Because of the motion she had applied to her pull, though, the knife kept traveling until it lodged itself right into her stomach.

"Oh," Yaya commented, her eyes wide in shock. She fell to her knees as she struggled to pull the knife from her stomach, wincing as the cool metal slid from her skin. Blood leaked out onto her hands, and she could only let herself drop her weapon to the floor. She felt the darkness rising in her chest fade, slowly become aware of her surroundings. The pain was awakening her, making her fully aware of what was going on around her.

Where was she, who was she? It was suddenly coming back to her. The darkness was fading, and she suddenly remembered everything that had happened. Being kidnapped, tortured, everything fading away. But now she was back in control; she was free. And Kairi was there to save her! They could run away from the crazy killer and be together forever! Kairi would protect her!

... or so she thought.

The last thing Yaya saw was Kairi, the boy she loved, lunge forward angrily, driving the knife straight through her heart.

Kairi stumbled away from Yaya's body, his heart pounding as the full weight of his actions fell upon him: He had killed Yaya. Yaya! He desperately wiped the blood her corpse had spat at him onto his pants, not wanting to think about how he had killed his best friend. The knife he had used glittered in her chest, her body bent over unnaturally as blood seeped through he clothes and dripped onto the floor. The most innocent and pure-hearted girl he knew had just been violently murdered, and just for his defense.

"No," Kairi whispered, not believing his actions or the truth. But what was the truth anymore? Possession? Zombies? Reincarnation? It was all fake; bogus supernatural plots from a movie! It wasn't real; it defied all logic!

"It's just a dream, just a dream, right? It's all just a dream. There is no way Fujisaki-senpai could be possessed, nor could Souma-senpai and Yaya-senpai. Demons definitely do not exist, and souls cannot pass through bodies as they please!" Kairi began to laugh uncertainly, meeting a fearful Utau's eyes with rather manic ones. He began to back up from the group, shaking his head as he stared anywhere but at Yaya's body. "It's all just a dream! Tomorrow I'll wake up and everything will be back to normal!"

"Kairi! Watch out!" Utau yelled, her eyes wide as she raised a hand uselessly to stop him. But he didn't listen; he was too far gone. Kairi just kept backing up….

He kept backing up into something hard collided with the back of his head.

Utau muffled a scream into her hand as Kairi's body flew forward, a sickening crack heard as Kukai's baseball bat met with his skull. All over again, she was helplessly watching as a boy's body fell to the floor, blood splashing up at her.

Kukai didn't stop. He kept swinging the bat against Kairi's body even when it was obvious he was gone. His body tore, his skin broke, blood flew in every direction.

"Kukai, stop!" Utau screamed, horrified by what was happening around her. She couldn't let Kukai do this. Kukai couldn't do this... Kukai was the nicest, most easygoing person she knew. He could never do this! He would never forgive himself.

Utau raced forward, pushing Kukai away from Kairi as she flung herself into his arms. It was an enormous leap of faith, but Tadase wasn't possessed and maybe Kukai could snap out of it! They were in love, after all! They could make it through this!

The baseball bat clattered to the floor as it slipped from Kukai's hand. Utau wrapped her arms around his body, trying desperately to wake him up, to bring him back. "Kukai! Kukai I know you're in there! You can do this, I know you can! Please come back to me!"

"Utau," Kukai whispered into Utau's hair. She gasped out in joy at his voice, tears falling down his back. He was back! He was back! They could leave here and be together again! It was all going to be alright!

"I'm so glad you're back! I just love you so much it's been killing me!" Utau whispered, pulling back to stare into Kukai's eyes. He grinned back at her, holding her face in his hands to give her a kiss. All was right again….

Until he twisted her head in one quick movement, immediately snapping her neck. Her body crumbled to the ground, a smile on her face at being with the one she loved… the one who ended her life.

Ikuto couldn't breath, it was all just too much. Yaya, Kairi, and now his sister… _His little sister_! But Amu was still alive, as was Tadase. Yes, there was them! He could still save them!

But Tadase didn't look like he was going to go anywhere willingly. He was just gazing at Nadeshiko and Rima, trying to figure out what exactly to do. The short girl was still holding the naginata in front of her, waiting to use it. Tadase looked like he wanted to dive between the two, but Ikuto grabbed his arm to make sure he wouldn't be able to do just that. He would not let him throw his life away over something so stupid.

Nadeshiko had leaned back, her body gracefully arcing as her stomach, neck, and head bled. "Come and kill your precious Nagihiko, Rima-chan."

No, it was just too cruel. After all of this she was still going through with stupid plans? Everyone was dying, and she was still preoccupied with this stupid revenge?

Rima raised the naginata above her head, and everything seemed to slow down in Tadase's eyes. The blade swung down in one long slash, nearing Nadeshiko's chest.

"No!" Tadase screamed, pulling desperately as he tried to get to her, but Ikuto wouldn't let go. He pulled as hard as he could, thrashing and jerking madly in Ikuto's grasp so that he could go and save Nadeshiko, but he wouldn't let go. "Nadeshiko, no!"

"Goodbye, Tadase," Nadeshiko said, looking back at Tadase with accepting eyes, but yet Tadase could feel the sadness in them. He could feel the pain hidden there. All she ever wanted was to live and be loved.

"No!" The blade pierced Nadeshiko's chest, her skin ripping as blood splattered up against Rima's body. It was beautifully tragic; a romanticized death above all.

But yet she wasn't yet dead. Maybe it was the fact that two souls resided in one body, but Nadeshiko was still alive. But she really would rather be dead. The unanesthetized pain was unbearable, every inch of her body burned with searing pain. If she wasn't killed soon just the pain would drive her insane.

"Nade! No!" Tadase cried, tears slipping down his cheeks as he thrashed back and forth desperately, trying to get free to help Nadeshiko as Rima held the naginata high over her head as she prepared to strike once more. Her eyes were blank and dull, not giving a single thought to the fact that she was about to cut Nagihiko in half.

"Oh god! Rima-chan," Nagihiko's voice rang out of Nadeshiko's body as she doubled over, grabbing her stomach as she coughed, blood splattering the floor in front of her. Rima's eyes flickered, the stoic look replaced by one of confusion. She winced as she put weight onto her stabbed leg, grabbing her bleeding stomach.

"Don't… don't screw this up any more," Nadeshiko hissed, pulling back to stare at Rima. The blonde's eyes flickered again as she cried out, looking at her blood and Nagihiko's blood mixed together on the front of her shirt.

"I… I stabbed Nagihiko," she said distantly, her eyes wide as she swayed back and forth. Nadeshiko inhaled sharply before coughing some more.

Ikuto was suddenly hopeful. They were still alive; wounded, but alive. Maybe they could get out of here.

And then he smelled the distinct smell of smoke, and felt the sudden heat on his back. He heard the crackling of flames and realized that he had forgotten all about Kukai.

He turned around, Amu following suit, to see that Kukai had done something involving the large crates… and they were on fire. And the fire was steadily spreading throughout the rest of the gym.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Ikuto moaned, resisting the urge to slam his palm against his own face. There was no freaking way anything else could go wrong; no way at all!

As much as he wished otherwise, everyone was screwed. It didn't matter anymore, he may as well give up.

"Ikuto! What do we do?" Amu's voice brought Ikuto back to his senses as she clung to his arms currently wrapped around Tadase, her body trembling from fear.

No, they weren't all screwed. Amu was still there, and she was fine. He had to protect her, until the very end. It didn't matter what else happened; if there was the slightest chance that she could live then he would fight to keep her alive.

Ikuto looked around the room. Kairi, Yaya, and Utau were dead or damn near close to it, so, as painful as it may be, they would have to be left behind. Rima was half possessed and half horrified, so maybe she could be saved. Nagihiko was swapping between a suicidal version of himself and a psycho bitch with every word said, so he would have to come last. And then there was Tadase, manically trying to save a girl who had beat him senseless just hours earlier. But Ikuto knew he had to protect him.

He wouldn't lose another one of his younger siblings.

"You go grab Rima and pull her out of here! If she tries to hurt you, just leave her and run," Ikuto ordered, causing Amu's eyes to widen.

"I can't just-"

"Just do it. And don't get distracted by anything else. If you don't think you can safely get Rima then just leave. Don't worry about me or anything."

"But Ikuto!"

"Go!"

Amu looked at Ikuto for a moment, opening her mouth to say something, before thinking better of it and running off towards Rima. Ikuto began trying to drag Tadase from the gymnasium, which was no easy feat; He was jerking around wildly as he tried to get to the severely bleeding Nadeshiko.

"Nadeshiko!" Tadase screamed, writhing about in Ikuto's grasp. Large tears were dropping from his pink eyes, as he watched the blood pour from the torn skin of her neck, seep through her kimono, fall down her face. He couldn't let this happen, he couldn't. As soon as Ikuto had said it, he had realized it was true; he was in love with Nadeshiko.

It may have seemed a little weird, falling in love with someone who had beat you, but Tadase knew that Nadeshiko was irrational right now and wouldn't be able to think straight. To be honest, even though he had always known that the Nadeshiko of his childhood had been a guy, he had always had a bit of a crush on her. And now, knowing that there actually was actually a female Nadeshiko out there, he couldn't stop himself from wanting her. And all that time he had been held captive, she had taken it easy on him. She hadn't hurt him as much as she had the others, she had left him somewhat sane. And although she had destroyed his heart's egg, she hadn't possessed him.

She may have claimed that she lost the ability to love, but Tadase didn't believe it one bit. Somewhere, deep inside, he knew she had feelings for him too.

"Nadeshiko!" Amu and Rima were gone now; they must have escaped as Nadeshiko lay dying. Kukai was gone as well, but Tadase felt like the brunette had been burned to death; the scent of burning flesh was filling his nose. All that was left was Nadeshiko.

But Ikuto wouldn't let go of him. He wouldn't let him save her.

In the distance Tadase could hear sirens; maybe the fire had set off an alarm and the fire department was coming, or maybe Nikaido had called the police after he had shown up in the classroom.

"Nadeshiko! No! I love you!" Tadase screamed, causing Nadeshiko to look across the room at him with wide, shocked eyes. Nobody had ever loved her; it was always Nagihiko. Even as children, when she was still alive, Nagihiko was always the favorite. And now, someone liked her best. Someone wanted _her_.

But it was too late.

The flames were engulfing the room as Ikuto desperately pulled Tadase out of it. He tried to stay, his heels dragging across the floor, his hands frantically trying to grasp at anything that could help him get away, but Ikuto was stronger.

It was sort of ironic, Tadase thought, as he was finally pulled from the gymnasium and Amu slammed the door shut in front of him. Nadeshiko would die engulfed in flames, just as she had the first time.

But this time, nobody would try to save her.

T H E - E N D.

A/N: Just kidding! Well, sort of. This is the end of the actual story, but I will be posting an epilogue. It should be up either Thursday or Friday but if I can't finish it before leaving for a camping trip it will be up, for sure, next Tuesday.  
>And I must admit... I really liked making half of the characters crack at the end. Utau... so stupid. xD Well, more like desperate I guess. It's actually kind of sad. :(<br>But yes, they are OOC for a reason.  
>Anyway, thanks for reading. Reviews are greatly appreciated. :3<p> 


	16. Epilogue

A/N: Thank you to all of my fabulous reviewers! I've been getting a lot of "thank you's" for writing this story, but if you all hadn't reviewed I would have dropped it on the second chapter. I've been writing fanfics for so long but never had the courage to post any, but now I feel a lot more confidence and give you all a big "thank you." Thanks to those that reviewed even just once (or every flipping chapter!) and all of those silent readers who lurked in the darkness but read the chapters as they came out every week. I love you all~

_~Six months later~_

Rima lay in the grass, her golden hair fanned out underneath her. She smiled up at the warm sun above her face, basking in it's glow as she shut her eyes.

A shadow crossed over her, making it considerably darker, but it didn't really matter, because she knew _who_ was casting the shadow onto her. It was someone she loved more that anything else, someone who loved her too.

Rima opened her eyes and grinned happily up at the boy. His long indigo hair swayed back and forth in the wind, the bright glow of the sun behind him making him appear somewhat angelic. He grinned back at her, showing off his perfect white teeth.

"Good afternoon, Rima-chan," the boy said happily, moving besides Rima before lowering himself to the grass. He sat next to her, his legs spread out in front of him, a content grin etched onto his face.

"Hello, Nagihiko," Rima said, grinning with equal enthusiasm, as she sat up next to him. She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. She was so happy, just being with him. She was just so relieved that he was alive. "I'm so glad you're alive."

"So am I, Rima-chan. It was just so lucky that the fire department arrived when they did, that they managed to pull me out from the burning building before I was burned to death. And so very lucky that my wounds were able to be healed by the doctors; medicine's amazing, isn't it?" Nagihiko said as he rested his head on top of the shorter girl's. She wove the fingers of her hand with his as he did this.

"I love you so much. So very much," Rima said with a sigh.

"I love you too, Rima-chan. Never forget that," Nagihiko replied.

The two sat there in silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying each other's presence, before Nagihiko pulled back and looked her in the eyes. He gently caressed her cheek with his free hand, before drawing her face in towards his and letting their lips meet. He kissed her slow and smooth, his lips and her's dancing together in perfect unison. It was an innocent and pure kiss, one that made Rima's heart ache she enjoyed it so much.

But yet, something wasn't right... something was very wrong. As content as Rima was in this moment, she couldn't think that it was actually happening. It was _too_ perfect. There was no way that this could be happening, after all the pain, all the heartbreak, there was no way.

"Don't forget, Rima-chan. You must remember forever," Nagihiko said into her lips as he pulled away. His eyes were closed and his face looked peaceful to Rima's gently parted eyes, but yet his voice held something more, something serious. "I gave up my life to save your's, right? You must never forget what I did."

"Of course; I'll never forget," Rima insisted pulling back to stare into Nagihiko eyes. He smiled gently back at her, his face still as peaceful as it had been the whole time.

"Good, because that's all I will ever ask of you."

A sudden beeping broke the mood, and when Rima blinked she found herself not in a field with Nagihiko but in the dark guestroom of Amu's house. Her heart thundered in her chest for a moment as she remembered the truth. Yaya, Kairi, Utau, Kukai, and Nagihiko had perished in the fire at the school gymnasium half a year ago. Only she, Ikuto, Tadase, and Amu had made it out alive. She and Tadase had spent several weeks at the hospital, getting tested for this and that and getting their wounds healed before they were let go. Nagihiko's mother had offered to let Rima stay with her, as her mother was dead and her father was lord knows where with his new wife, but Rima couldn't accept that and had moved in with Amu.

Nagihiko being with her again was just a dream, a dream she had had much too often.

Rima slowly got out of bed after turning off the alarm clock, and yawned as she walked towards the bathroom. As much as she enjoyed the dreams when she was in them, they left her feeling empty afterward. She supposed they were the reason she couldn't move on from the tragic deaths, as Nagihiko reminded her two or three times a week of her sacrifice and what exactly she had done. Giving her sweet words and gentle caresses, albeit in a dream, where still an easy way to remind her. The fact he held no resentment whatsoever made it harder to let go, especially as the only thing he asked of her was to hold on to him forever.

Rima was the only one still hung up on the past.

Amu and Ikuto had gotten over it fairly quickly, but that wasn't too say they had forgotten. Once or twice a month they would have days were they sat around doing nothing, sighing and locking themselves in their rooms, and occasionally either of them would just stare off into space for long stretches of time, but no longer were their thoughts consumed by their friends and loved ones lost.

Tadase had held on longer. He had clung to Nadeshiko desperately, not wanting to let go of someone he loved so much, as with the others. But eventually he gave her up. Rima asked him about this one day, how he could let go of someone he loved so much, and he had given her a response that baffled her completely. He told her that his love for her had been impulsive, and that he was never actually in love with her, but that everything was so rushed and confused he mistook a crush for something deeper.

Rima wondered if that was simply what happened to her. She wondered if her love for Nagihiko wasn't more like love for what he did, or that she felt that she owed it to him to love him as much as he loved her. True, she had always had feelings for him, but maybe it was just a crush and the dreams were influencing her to believe it was much more.

Everyone told her that Nagihiko would want her to be happy and that she should move on. She didn't have to love anyone else, but that she should let go of him and continue with her life. But she couldn't. Not only were her feelings for him stopping her, but the dreams as well.

But those dreams were better then the ones she had on the other nights.

It had started when she was in the hospital. The dreams were so realistic, so gruesome that every time she had had them at first she woke up screaming.

The details changed often, but it always had the same premise. Nadeshiko was there, but so was Nagihiko. She would attack him, stabbing him over and over as blood splashed up onto Rima and his skin tore, his organs falling to the floor as he was converted to a mess of flesh, blood, and bones. Sometimes others would die as well, her mother was often there, but it was always Nagihiko. And, right before she woke up, Rima would look down and find the naginata in her hand and Nadeshiko would be gone, her voice echoing in her ears "You were the one that delivered the final blow."

Rima wondered sometimes if she had killed Nagihiko. True, in the struggle to save her he had almost killed himself himself, but when she blacked out and began to come to she had the naginata in her hands and there was blood everywhere; it didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Was it her fault Nagihiko was dead? Was it her fault he was gone?

Rima had spoken to Ikuto once, right after the incident, and asked him what he would have done if Amu had died in the gymnasium and he had been the one to kill her. His eyes had clouded over and had looked out the window for a long moment before answering, quite reluctantly, "I'd die."

Rima felt that dying would be nice, god knew she wanted to, but then Nagihiko's sacrifice would have been in vain, everyone's deaths would have been in vain. But it was what Nadeshiko wanted, right? Maybe if she died then everyone would be brought back.

After she was dressed, Rima walked down the stairs, past the kitchen, and through the front door. She wouldn't wait to walk to school with Amu, and she wouldn't tell her that she was going ahead. She didn't want to talk to anyone right now, she just wanted to remember the feeling of Nagihiko's lips on her's as she went along her way.

The dreams with Nagihiko, although the left her feeling guilty and sick, were the only good thing she had anymore. Sometimes they were sweet and gentle, like the one she had last night, but sometimes they were heated and passionate. They would kiss, and then the kissing would lead to touching, and then the touching would lead to sex. At the end, Nagihiko would force Rima to say she would never forget him, never let go. Every time she woke up from one of _those_ dreams Rima cried and cried until she had a migraine and felt like she was going to throw up.

The dreams were horrible; they kept her heart shrouded in darkness, they made her remember things that should have long ago been forgotten. But they were also her sanctuary, her heaven, her paradise. Because they were the only times she would ever see Nagihiko again.

Rima walked out into the early morning traffic, without looking for cars, in the middle of the street at a slow and leisurely pace. She didn't care if she were hit, she didn't care if she were injured or killed. Then she could be with Nagihiko again, then she could give Nadeshiko what she wanted.

The doctors had told Rima that she was going through serious depression, and she didn't find that hard to believe. They offered her several types of medication for this, but she refused to take them. She didn't want to lose Nagihiko, she didn't want to move on.

They had told the Hinamori family before the took the blonde into their care something they didn't think was suitable for the girl to hear. Apparently Nadeshiko had beat her so badly that she had suffered mild brain damage, and that the trauma of everything had only contributed to this. It made sense to Amu then, why she appeared so distant, why she was so hung up on Nagihiko and Nadeshiko. But as hard as they tried to give her treatment and medication Rima refused. Nagihiko was telling her every other night that she needed to hold on to him, and if she let go then she had failed him. After everything he gave to her, how could she possibly let go?

After a long time Rima walked out onto the bridge, gazing down at the water hundreds of feet below with a rather blank look.

It was spring, the cherry blossoms were blooming from where the bridge had started. Rima's heart ached as she remembered going to view the peach blossoms with Nagihiko in place of viewing the cherry blossoms with her parents. Even from then, he had loved her. And he had told her not to cry, because a smile suited her more than tears.

But wait, wasn't that Nadeshiko with her then? Hadn't she made him go and change into his feminine persona?

She was everywhere, wasn't she?

Rima had tried not to cry, just for him, but Nadeshiko was the one who had told her not to. Maybe Nagihiko did want her to cry!

Nagihiko, Nadeshiko, Nagihiko, Nadeshiko... which one was which?

Rima pulled her body up onto the railing of the bridge, holding onto the support beam desperately as she stared down at the water below. No, she wasn't going to jump; she had come to this bridge and stood like this several times before, but she had obviously never jumped. A cherry blossom fell in front of Rima's eyes and she had to blink back tears. Her parents never did go to see them with her. They were gone, and so was Nagihiko.

Why was she holding back the tears if that was what Nadeshiko wanted? Maybe she should cry them for Nagihiko.

What she wouldn't give...

This whole thing was about her, right? Nadeshiko would have taken Rima's life in exchange for everyone else's. If she died, everyone would come back! Everyone including Nagihiko! Who cares if she had to die, as long as Nagihiko could live?

"Yes, Rima-chan. Jump and everyone will come back." Rima knew there was no one there, and this voice was just her imagination, but the logical part of her mind was no longer in control. Instead, Nadeshiko was standing beside her, smirking up at her. "Jump and Nagihiko will come back."

Rima owed it to Nagihiko to survive, as that was what he had given his life for, but if she could bring him back that was even better. And Nadeshiko said _everyone_ could come back if she died, even the people who were killed without any say in the matter.

"Rima-chan, don't forget me. Remember what I wanted," Nagihiko voice echoed in Rima's ears from deep in her subconscious. He wasn't there either, part of Rima knew this, but there he was, standing on her right, smiling at her. What he wanted was her to live and be happy, but she wasn't happy, she would never be happy again. The only way she would be happy was if he was alive. And if he wanted her to be happy, then he needed to be alive. And for him to be alive, Rima needed to die.

_She needed to die._

"Yes, Rima-chan, bring him back! Bring them _all_ back!" Nadeshiko's grin was huge, filling her face with an evil sort of lust. Rima wanted to, she really did, but was this truly the way?

Nadeshiko had always wanted only her to die. Sure, she desired revenge on the others, but she had wanted Rima to die.

It was all her fault. Everything was her fault.

"Rima-chan!" Ah, and there was the voice of Amu echoing in her ears as well. But Amu wasn't dead.

At the end of the bridge Amu stood, severely winded, along with Tadase and Ikuto. She began sprinting out onto the bridge as the other two kept pace.

"They don't understand, Rima-chan. They don't understand that you're going to bring them all back. Don't you think Ikuto wants his sister? Don't you think Amu and Tadase want their friends? They don't understand, or else they'd want you to jump as well," Nadeshiko voice said, smooth and deadly. Rima's head hurt as she tried to focus on her friends and the twins surrounding her. What was the truth, what was real?

"Rima-chan, go with Amu. Go with Amu. Don't let my sacrifice be in vain," Nagihiko pleaded, his eyes wide. Amu reached Rima and stepped right where he was, causing him to vanish.

So Nadeshiko was real, so she was right. Dying would bring Nagihiko back.

"Mashiro-san, it's alright! Come down from the bridge! Things will get better, I promise you!" Tadase urged, his face frantic as he looked up at her with wide eyes. But he was lying. The dreams would continue, the guilt would increase.

"Nagihiko wouldn't want this!" Ikuto added.

"Nagihiko wanted to live," Nadeshiko's voice hissed in Rima ear. It was true, he wanted to live. He wanted to live. He wanted Rima to be happy, but Rima wasn't happy. Rima was in so much pain.

"Ikuto doesn't want you, he wants Utau. Amu doesn't want you, she want's Nagihiko. Tadase doesn't want you, he wants Kukai," Nadeshiko's voice continued, poison dripping from her dulcet tone.

It was true, they didn't want her. And if she could help them, then it would be worth her death.

"This is for you guys, you know. She told me she'd bring them back if I died," Rima said, her voice shaky and unnatural. Amu furrowed her eyebrows. "She told me they'd bring Nagihiko back."

"Wait, who told you?"

"Nadeshiko did."

Amu's mouth dropped into a small "o" at this. She was in shock; Rima was hallucinating that Nadeshiko was there? Had things really gotten this bad? How had she not noticed?

"Rima-chan, Nadeshiko is _dead,_" Amu said, her voice oddly high-pitched.

"Yes, but she's here," Rima said, glancing back down at the still water, not wanting to look at neither Amu or Nadeshiko. Could she still do it, with Amu and the others here? Wouldn't that hurt them, to uselessly watch her die? But yet, in the long run, it would help them much.

"Mashiro-san, it's just me, Ikuto and Amu-chan; Nadeshiko-san isn't here," Tadase said, his voice weak as he tried to smile up at the blonde, but finding himself sick at the thought of the girl he may or may not have loved. Rima frowned, glancing over at the indigo-haired girl.

"She's here, she's always with me, in the background, watching everything I do, every move I make," Rima said, her voice bland and tasteless. She looked up at Amu and stared at her with dark, emotionless eyes. "She's always watching me."

"Rima, killing yourself won't bring them back; once someone's gone they're gone. It's too late, but you can still live," Ikuto said, holding out a hand to the small girl.

His hand... she had just held Nagihiko's in her dream. Jumping would bring him back. Or, even if it didn't, they would be together again, in an endless dream. She could hold his hand, kiss his lips, and say that she was sorry for what she did, thankful for what he did, and that she loved him more than words could express.

She wanted to hold Nagihiko's hand, not Ikuto's.

"Do it now and you can, Rima-chan. Do it and you will be with Nagihiko forever," Nadeshiko whispered, her voice cool and enticing.

Nagihiko was suddenly there, standing in front of her, holding out his hand.

"I want you to be happy, Rima-chan," was what he said. He held out one of his hands for her to take.

"Nagihiko," Rima said, smiling as she reached forward to take his hand, stepping forward as she did so.

"No!" Ikuto screamed, lunging forward, grasping at air, as Rima tumbled forwards, her long hair falling out behind her as her body sped to the water below.

_Now Nagihiko will come back, now he can know my feelings._

"Why aren't you glad? You got what you wanted," a dark voice hissed in the ear of a young girl. She turned from where she was frowning into space and gave it a exasperated look.

"I didn't think getting revenge would feel quite like this. I feel bad about it. Like... like _I _was in the wrong," the girl said slowly, as if unsure about her words. The figure smirked at her.

"But _she_ did die in the end, you know. Aren't you glad?"

"I... I really am not. I mean, once Tadase told me that he loved me, I kind of realized what I did was wrong, that I shouldn't have tried to kill others just because they liked my brother more," the girl sighed, resting her head in her palm, "I can't believe I drove her to such insanity that hallucinations of Nagihiko and I told her to kill herself. I mean, even though I lost, I suppose I won. I got exactly what I wanted."

After a long period of silence, she continued, "You know what's funny, though? I'd give anything at all to do it all over again, to get a second chance to fix it. Instead of seeking revenge, trying to cooperate with Nagihiko."

"More that anything else, I should have asked for a second chance."

"Hmm, isn't this curious?" The figure said, smirking as the girl sighed off into the distant darkness.

"_I wonder if I'll give you a second chance..."_

A/N: Now, officially, it's the end. And yes, Rima is dead. Sorry. xD No, I'm actually not. Originally she was going to die in the fire but, I was listening to Dark Paradise by Lana Del Rey and got inspired. And yeah, it's kind of an open ending. It's up to you to decide whether or not the devil gives Nadeshiko a second chance. Haha, I hate when people write open endings, but then I go and write one. xD

But re-reading it, this leaves it so I could write a sequel! Would you guys be interested in a sequel or not? It would have a new storyline too, but would still be horror; probably more horror then this story. Oh god, the plot bunnies are taking over my brain. Yeah, if anyone is interested I'll definitely eventually write a sequel.

Oh, and speaking of future works, my next story is two-faced lovers. But, because it's going to be so short, I will also work on Week of Chaos at the same time because it's just a fun, non-serious story and I already have written a bunch of it. So look forward to those in the next few weeks.  
>Anyway, like I've said several times, thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. I hope you all read my future stories as well. :)<p> 


End file.
